New Delhi: President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Oct 8, 2004) asked the scientist community to work towards finding effective drugs against diseases specific to the region at affordable prices.

"Since, majority of the population in the country falls below poverty line, drugs for common diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Virus) and coronary heart diseases should be made available at affordable prices," he said giving away 'Ranbaxy Research Awards' to scientists for their contribution in the field of medical and pharmaceutical sciences.

Among the awardees, for the year 2002-2003, were C P Thakur, Dinakar M Saluke, Subroto Chatterjee, V M Katoch, Chella David and Bansi Lal.

Stressing on the need for research aimed at finding affordable solutions to region-specific disease, Kalam said, "It's we who have to find effective drugs against the problems that prevail in our country such as malaria and tuberculosis."

Though there are drugs, which have proved to be effective against malaria, the cost comes out to be about 20 times higher that the common drugs used in the country, he said adding "we need to bring the cost as low as possible."

Kalam asked the scientists to work on "gene chip" to fight against coronary heart disease as it is an emerging problem especially in the younger generation.

"Gene chip technology could help identify the mutated gene even at an early stage thereby preventing the disease to grow," he said.

The President also asked the researchers to work on Stem Cell due to its inherent potential to reverse the growth of diseases, which are currently "untreatable".