Finding the right cure options
S Dravida, a bio entrepreneur creating the next benchmark in the stem cell industry with her venture, Transcell
Taking chances stands critical to a beginning in the biotech industry. Creating something new here is all about not accepting the present state of affairs; so the industry demands risk takers, and experimentalist turned entrepreneur, Dr S Dravida fits perfectly into the picture. With time, women entrepreneurs are becoming the lifeline of the lifesciences industry. Traversing the industry trends, women are establishing landmarks in the biotech sector of the country. Counted among them is Transcell Biologics, a leading entity renowned for addressing the hindrances by catering end-to-end medical solutions through R&Ddriven offerings. Since its inception in 2011, Transcell has been playing an instrumental role; working and growing with its R & D prowess and a robust momentum on stem cell technologies. Staying abreast of the global parameters, Transcell Biologics has been a stimulant all these years and it looks like the pioneer has been there for centuries. What has been the secret formula behind this biotech magnet’s endeavor?
The answer lies in the enthusiasm of Dr S Dravida, who fostered a vision, refined it, and is now spearheading the organization with her unique talent of converting scientific findings to business opportunities. Recognized for innovating new vistas in the domains of stem cell research, biobanking for personalized medicine and product development on the global front, Dr S Dravida nestles a unique blend skill – wet lab experimentation, formulating lab findings to the intended applications. She is a first generation visionary entrepreneur in the biotech industry with long and smart standing in the field of bench to bed translation, commercialization segments of Stem cell research. Under her aegis, Transcell Biologics Pvt. Ltd has reached to greater pinnacles – from an R&D unit built on proprietary platform technologies to a fully integrated enterprise encompassing a well-balanced business portfolio offering biobanking, drug discovery for cancers and regenerative medicinal segments. A biologist by education, Dr S Dravida acquired clinical informatics research exposure having associated professionally with the University of North Carolina, USA, Ottawa Health Research Institute, Canada. The insights gained during her research journey brewed up the initiation of Transcell. She gave life to her vision- to reach the patient population through stem cell technologies in which she has intellectual property to her credit. She strongly believes that this Universe will conspire and make her realize her vision and dream.
Ushering a new dawn in stem cell research based offerings with its detailed R&D
“While other players are popular for their commodity business models, Transcell is spun out of in-built research based and proprietary technologies”
Steering towards the right direction, Transcell’s one-woman army grew into a sixty-member strong biotech team backed by Angels with conviction in science driven entities in India. The biotech catalyst gained the sense of direction and pioneering spirit under her chronic optimism that kept clearing the bottlenecks in the journey.
Among the company’s landmark innovations is the development of a novel proprietary process for maximizing the therapeutic stem cell yield that also maintains the native pluripotent properties and inherent functionality.
Assorted innovative and research-oriented companies have played the role of catalysts to bring India in line with the international standards in terms of original research-driven medical practices while Transcell Biologics is one of such recognized entities in India. As Steve Jobs Once Said, ‘People with Passion Can Change the World’, Dr S Dravida is a passionate scientist by profession whose scientific credibility catalyzes her group’s mission of finding cure options for Cancers, Neurodegenerative diseases routed through patient and donor samples repositories that are in-built. The parent company Transcell Biologics has several patents on discovered new chemical and biological formulae for Neuro-Muscular dystrophies and Periodontal diseases.
Transcell Biolife: Group’s Biobank bridging the gap between research and emerging discoveries to clinics
Fathoming the opportunity provided by preserving precious stem cells for personalized medicine with donor’s genome data captured, this team is offering storage products as ScellCare and ToothScell to all the eligible families in India.
Transcell Oncologics: Group’s subsidiary is developing next generation cure options for debilitating Cancers
Patients sourced tumor derivatives repository driven small molecules discovery as new drug candidates, this team is finding novel solutions for curing sub types of Cancer disease, which is known to have no option till date. They are working to defy the truth that 100% of the treated Cancers relapse!
Walking towards the future
The group is nicely positioned for organic growth with laser sharp focus on deliverables. The Founding team and the Scientific backbone have redefined Transcell’s stakeholders by including the patient population for who the cross functional group is working to come up with novel cure options. With a lot happening on it’s roadmap in addition to the Founding team’s attitude, the future surely stands bright for Transcell.
A piece of advice for the young and aspiring entrepreneurs in biotech space given by her:
She says: Science is no joke to try doing business with no deep technical knowledge. Also, unless it is your technology and you have end to end hands on experience handling the product life cycle, don’t venture into, to make money. If your findings have compelling data, commercial success is automatic. So, there are no short cuts to reach the market and don’t run for recognition as your contribution to this field should speak.There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. But for somebody whose dream is true and the desire to realize the dream is real, the whole universe will conspire and make you realize your dream.
