“The first drug candidate approved by the Ministry of Health, whose intellectual rights belong to Turkey, was developed.”

Support Project for R&D Support Laboratories Towards Global Competitiveness for Life Sciences SMEs, Kacır, European Union (EU) Commission Member Responsible for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova and Boğaziçi University Rector Prof. Dr. It was introduced at the meeting attended by Mehmet Naci İnci and academicians.

Wishing the project to be auspicious and auspicious, which takes the country’s production and technology development capacity in life sciences to the next level, ensures the establishment of critical infrastructures and offers new and unique gains for the health industry, Kacır explained that a country’s economic independence is equivalent to its technological competence.

Stating that countries that make value-added production and have an innovative ecosystem have more say in the international arena, Kacır stated that they see the transformation in technology as a window of opportunity for Turkey to improve its capacity to offer competitive products and services in high technology areas in line with the National Technology Move targets.

Stating that they act with the approach of building an ecosystem that supports technological innovations and research while strengthening the qualified human resources of the sector, Kacır said that they aim to increase the number of patents in clinical and information technologies, R&D expenditures and the number of initiatives in the field of health with the Smart Life and Health Products and Technologies Road Map. He stated that they put

[Fotoğraf: AA]

“We supported 56 investment projects with a total size exceeding 22 billion lira”

Mehmet Fatih Kacır stated that they accelerated the localization move in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and health information technologies, which they determined as critical and strategic, and said, “Last year alone, we issued 404 investment incentive certificates in the health sector, mobilizing more than 62 billion liras of investment and paving the way for approximately 11 thousand qualified employment. ” said.

Kacır pointed out that within the scope of the Technology-Focused Industrial Move Program, which was implemented to encourage value-added production and reduce the current account deficit, they supported 56 investment projects with a total size exceeding 22 billion liras, from biosimilar drugs to cancer and autoimmune drugs, from orthopedic devices and prostheses to innovative generic drugs.

Stating that R&D and innovation competence is a must for a strong production infrastructure in health, Kacır continued as follows:

“We carry out more than 1,700 research projects in 69 R&D centers within our leading companies operating in the field of healthcare, especially pharmaceuticals, medical devices and medical. To date, more than 3,700 technology startups in our technoparks have contributed to more than 21 thousand projects in the field of health technologies. In our TÜBİTAK support programs, we give priority to studies in the health sector under the headings of R&D and innovation. Within the scope of our TÜBİTAK scholarship and support programs, more than 9,500 projects in the field of health and nearly 17 thousand people have received a total of 41 billion in the last 22 years. “We provided TL support and paved the way for the development of new solutions in health by carrying out qualified R&D studies in health technologies.”

“Exemplary and pioneering work was carried out at Boğaziçi LifeSci”

Minister Kacır stated that advanced research activities have been carried out in groundbreaking technologies in the field of life sciences at Boğaziçi LifeSci, which has carried out exemplary and pioneering work in many aspects since 2010.

Noting that the researchers at the center have carried out more than 100 scientific research projects and made a total of 1200 publications with high impact value, Kacır said, “Our Prof. Dr. Rana Sanyal and his team; “The Ministry has developed our country’s first drug candidate that received approval from the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TITCK),” he said.

Kacır stated that what makes this success story important is not just the discovery of a drug that gives hope to patients on a global scale, and added: “It is also valuable that we managed to deliver a molecule from the laboratory to patients for the first time with our own resources, and that this was demonstrated to be feasible.” said.

Stating that there are more than 120 healthcare startups in the world today with a valuation of more than billion dollars, Kacır said, “Our country’s technology ecosystem has so far produced 7 technology startups, Turcorns, as we call them, that have exceeded a valuation of billion dollars, but we have not been able to launch Turcorn in the field of healthcare so far. I believe that the pharmaceutical phase developed by our teacher and his team “He will successfully complete the phase-2 and phase-3 studies, and the initiative of which he is one of the founders will turn into a success story on a global scale.” made his assessment.

Kacır, Prof. Dr. He stated that Sanyal’s project was included in the Turcorn 100 Program, which was created to support Turkey’s technology startups with rapid growth potential on a global scale, to scale faster and open up to global markets.

Pointing out that they supported the R&D Support Laboratories Support Project towards Global Competitiveness for Life Sciences SMEs within the scope of the Competitive Sectors Program, Kacır said:

“With this project, which was implemented with a new investment of 5 million euros, we offered an exemplary infrastructure, including Turkey’s first pre-clinical animal imaging center, pilot production and first-scale production facility, and a clean room at international standards, to the service of our entrepreneurs and researchers.”

Noting that they have created thematic incubation and acceleration programs that will support entrepreneurs and SMEs, Kacır added that the project will accelerate the value-added and technology-oriented transformation of the country’s economy.