AMU faculty receives grant to set startup at IIT Kanpur

Aligarh : Prof Asad U Khan, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) makes sure that Diabetic foot ulcers no more lead to high morbidity, mortality, microbial infection and serious complications such as amputation.

His patented novel formulation to treat Diabetic foot ulcers with Photodynamic Therapy has fetched him a grant of Rs 50 lakh from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) to set a startup at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur’s Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC). The prestigious Biotechnology Ignition Grant has been given to achieve the goal of making the novel formulation ready for commercialization in a period of 18 months.

According to Prof Asad, “Specially-created nanoparticles are the key component of this new drug and each nanoparticle will store medication and deliver it specifically”.

“The new drug will be used for trials on Diabetic patients with foot ulcers at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinoloy, J N Medical College (JNMC), AMU where the Centre Director, Dr Hamid Ashraf has extending association”, he said.

Prof Asad stressed, “There is a critical need to develop novel treatments to improve healing of diabetic foot ulcers as very few drugs and therapies have regulatory approvals”.

The grant awarded for the development and production of the novel formulation is in line with the Government of India’s National Innovation and Start-up Policy (NISP)-2019 that allows innovators from among the faculty and students to establish startups.