Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 31, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 31, 2006 |
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Corporate
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New Projects Advinus set for Rs 22-cr expansion in Bangalore Madhumathi D.S.
Through Advinus, the Tata group hopes to tap the exponentially growing drug R&D outsourcing trend.
Bangalore , March 30 Advinus Therapeutics, the Tata Group-promoted drug discovery and contract research entity, is in an expansion mode in Bangalore and looking for a large, second site to set up its drug development facility, it is understood. The investment in the new facility could be nearly Rs 22 crore ($5 million). Advinus' present land requirement could be of the order of 2 lakh sq ft, according to sources familiar with the development. The new facility is most likely to be located around the existing unit at Peenya, from where a former agro-chemical venture of the Tatas — the erstwhile Rallis Research Centre - once functioned. The old Rallis site and operations were acquired for Rs 26 crore only a year ago when Advinus was formed. Through Advinus, the Tata group hopes to tap the exponentially growing drug R&D outsourcing trend, in which pharma majors have been globally spending around $65 billion (over Rs 28,000 crore). The domestic contract research sector alone is worth around Rs 480 crore and set to grow at 80 per cent as estimated by TCS, another Tata arm that offers clinical trials software, the sources said. Advinus is the Tatas' recent foray into emerging pharma R&D area; the group has an undisclosed majority equity share in the year-old joint venture with Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya, former R&D chief at Ranbaxy. Once an active pharma manufacturing player, the Tata group had exited this business a few years ago, by selling Merind to Wockhardt and Rallis to Shreya. Tata group honcho, Mr R. Gopalakrishnan, is its Chairman while Dr Barbhaiya is its CEO & Managing Director. The R&D venture focuses on drug discovery, contract research and pharmaceutical development services. Its aim is to discover small therapeutic, licensable molecules to treat a whole range of diseases - including diabetes, obesity, chronic asthma, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and neglected third-world diseases such as kala azar, dengue, TB, leprosy and malaria. Advinus has identified Bangalore, with its research centres and talent pool, as its hub. It also has smaller scale research operations at Pune. It also offers support to biotechnology, agro-chemical companies in global registration, besides pre-clinical and early clinical development for potential or candidate drugs that are being developed by companies.
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