12. Personalised Medicine and the Bio-Revolution: Biopharma Shakti Initiative

The Union Budget 2026-27 has earmarked a significant investment of 10,000 crore for the biotechnology sector, signaling India\'s transition toward becoming a global hub for biopharma manufacturing and precision healthcare. • Strategic Investment and Biopharma Shakti: The Centre’s 10,000 crore allocation aims to bolster the production of biologics and biosimilars. The \'Biopharma Shakti\' initiative is designed to create a robust ecosystem for advanced therapeutics and high-value manufacturing. • Paradigm Shift in Treatment: Healthcare is moving from a \'one-size-fits-all\' reactive model to a \'proactive and individualized\' approach. Treatments are now being tailored based on a patient\'s genetic, metabolic, lifestyle, and ethnic profile. • Role of Industry 5.0: The integration of biotechnology with generative AI, multimodal machine learning, and reinforcing AI is accelerating drug discovery and neuroinformatics, making the development process faster and more accurate. • Educational Evolution: Biotechnology education is rapidly integrating genomics, bioinformatics, and data science. New specialized programs are focusing on large dataset analysis and computational biology to meet the demands of the transforming clinical landscape. • Post-Pandemic Transformation: The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a primary catalyst, shifting public and private focus toward human-centric innovations and sustainable science-led solutions in biotechnology. • Economic and Career Prospects: With strong government backing and a growing global job market, biotechnology is emerging as a stable and promising career path, particularly in sectors involving targeted therapies and optimized drug selection. Key Definitions • Personalised Medicine: A medical model that separates patients into different groups, with medical decisions, practices, or products being tailored to the individual patient based on their predicted response or risk of disease. • Biologics: Complex medicines produced from living organisms (such as bacteria, yeast, or animal cells) using highly advanced technologies. • Biosimilars: A biologic medical product that is almost an identical copy of an original product that is manufactured by a different company. • Bioinformatics: An interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Constitutional and Legal Provisions • Article 21: The Right to Life includes the right to health. Advancements in biotechnology and personalised medicine directly support the state\'s obligation to provide high-quality healthcare. • Article 47 (DPSP): Mandates the State to regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties. • Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940: Regulates the import, manufacture, and distribution of drugs. Current amendments are being sought to include specialized regulations for biologics and gene therapies. • National Biotechnology Development Strategy (2021-2025): The policy framework that aims to make India a \'Global Bio-manufacturing Hub\' by 2025, which has been further extended by the 2026 budget initiatives. Additional Strategic Keypoints • Targeted Therapies: These involve using medicines that \'target\' specific genes or proteins to stop the growth of cancer or other diseases with minimal damage to healthy cells. • Ethno-Racial Profiling in Medicine: Experts highlight that drugs react differently across various racial groups. For instance, certain ACE inhibitors are less effective in people of African descent compared to Caucasians. Personalised medicine uses these concrete statistical variations to optimize dosage.  • Computational Biology: The use of algorithms and modeling to understand biological systems and relationships, which is essential for \'in-silico\' drug testing (testing via computer simulation). Conclusion The infusion of 10,000 crore into the biotechnology sector via the Biopharma Shakti initiative represents a watershed moment for Indian healthcare. By leveraging the synergy between AI and genomics, India is not merely expanding its manufacturing capacity but is actively participating in the \'Industry 5.0\' revolution. The shift toward personalised medicine ensures that healthcare becomes more effective and less toxic, though it requires a simultaneous update in India’s regulatory and educational frameworks to remain globally competitive. UPSC Relevance • General Studies III: Science and Technology-developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Achievements of Indians in science & technology; Indigenization of technology and developing new technology; Biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights. • General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health and Education. • Context: This topic is highly relevant for the 2026-27 Mains examination due to the specific budgetary mention and the strategic shift toward \'Biopharma Shakti\' as a pillar of the Indian economy.