Question : Non-Communicable Diseases

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that there is an alarming spike in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases especially diabetes;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has any proposal for promoting research for the production of complex generics and biosimilar treatment for treating noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, asthma and arthritis; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this direction?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a) & (b): As per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report “India: Health of the Nation’s states: State-Level Disease Burden Initiative” 2017, the contribution of Non-Communicable Diseases in total deaths was 37.8% in 1990 and 61.8% in 2016. As per this report, Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY’s) rate for diabetes increased by 80% during 1990 to 2016.

(c) &(d): Department of Biotechnology has launched the National Biopharma Mission of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) which supports projects for Preclinical to Clinical stage development of Biosimilars and Clone development in the area of Diabetes, Cancer, Psoriatic arthritis and eye diseases. These programs also include academia-industry collaborative projects. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has informed that it does not have research proposal on production of complex generics and bio-similar treatment for treating Non Communicable Diseases. However, ICMR has published “National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and a health Research Involving Human Participants-2017” including research on bio-similars (similar biological) in India.