Vaccine maker Biological E.’s managing director Mahima Datla and former IAS officer B.P. Acharya have been selected for the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations awards this year.
The Dr. B.S.Bajaj Memorial FABA Special Award-2022 will be conferred on Ms. Datla for introducing Corbevax vaccine in augmenting the global collective fight against the COVID-19, while Mr. Acharya has been selected for the FABA Lifetime Achievement Award for his notable contributions to All India Biotech Associations and FABA.
The awards will be presented during the 19th edition of BioAsia, the annual global biotechnology and life sciences summit, being organised by Telangana government and FABA, later this month, FABA said in statement on Saturday.
Executive president P. Reddanna said, “The contributions made by Biological E under the leadership of Ms. Datla are conscientiously recognised and commended by the biotechnology fraternity. Their vaccine, Corbevax being scalable and affordable to the low-middle income countries, makes Biological E the most promising candidate for the award.”
FABA said Mr. Acharya had coordinated initiatives of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government to develop Genome Valley and biotech sector in the region, which also led to the ‘Bio State of the Year 2003’ award being presented to the State. Post retirement, he has been serving as Advisor to ICMR for the National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research.
