India’s First Indigenous Antibiotic ‘Nafithromycin’ Showcases Self-Reliance In Pharma: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh on Saturday (18 October) said that India has developed its first indigenously discovered antibiotic, Nafithromycin, which is effective against resistant respiratory infections, especially in cancer patients and those with uncontrolled diabetes.

Addressing a three-day medical workshop on “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Multi-Omics Data Integration and Analysis”, Singh said Nafithromycin is the first antibiotic molecule to be entirely conceptualized, developed, and clinically validated in India — a major step toward self-reliance in the pharmaceutical sector.

Developed by the Department of Biotechnology in collaboration with Wockhardt, the antibiotic represents what Singh called an "example of successful industry-academia partnership”, driving India’s biopharmaceutical growth.

He emphasised the need to create a self-sustainable innovation ecosystem where private sector and philanthropic participation complement government support.

Singh also announced a major breakthrough in gene therapy — India’s first successful indigenous clinical trial for hemophilia treatment, conducted at Christian Medical College, Vellore with support from the Department of Biotechnology.

The gene therapy trial, supported by the Department of Biotechnology, achieved a 60–70 per cent correction rate with zero bleeding episodes, and the findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Highlighting India’s growing biomedical capabilities, the minister said the country has already sequenced over 10,000 human genomes and plans to scale this up to one million.

He added that the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore over five years — including Rs 36,000 crore from non-government sources — will further boost private participation in research and development.

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