The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has approved around ₹1,600 crore in financial assistance for 41 pharma and MedTech innovation projects under the first round of the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech Sector (PRIP) scheme. The approved projects are expected to attract an additional ₹3,020 crore in private investment, taking the total research and development investment to around ₹4,620 crore.

The 41 projects span new drug discovery, clinical development and advanced medical technologies. Of these, 27 projects focus on new medicines, nine on novel medical devices, and five on complex generics and biosimilars. Twelve projects are at the early stage, while 29 are at the later stage. Start-ups and MSMEs account for 19 projects, while 22 projects are being undertaken by large companies.

The portfolio includes innovations targeting multidrug-resistant infections, exosome-based therapies for corneal disease, in-vivo CAR-T therapy, patient-derived breast cancer organoids, programmable RNA-targeting antivirals, point-of-care infection diagnostics and tuberculosis detection. Six projects have also been shortlisted under strategic priority areas including antimicrobial resistance, rare and neglected diseases and next-generation vaccines

The PRIP scheme has a total financial outlay of ₹5,000 crore and aims to strengthen India’s domestic pharmaceutical and MedTech research ecosystem. Under the scheme’s new Discovery Track, eligible start-ups and MSMEs working on early-stage New Chemical Entity and New Biological Entity projects can receive up to ₹50 crore in financial assistance, subject to at least 25% co-funding from institutional investors.

The government said the initiative is intended to accelerate indigenous drug and medical-device innovation and help promising technologies progress from research and discovery towards clinical development and commercialisation.