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Our Bureau

To be Bristol Myers' first research centre in the country

Bangalore March 14 Biocon's subsidiary Syngene International P Ltd and the US major Bristol-Myers Squibb Co have said they are significantly scaling up their nine-year-old research tie-up.

Syngene will set up a dedicated research facility at Biocon Park here for its client to move into high-end R&D services for the latter's global discovery and early drug development plans. The 13-year-old custom research arm or Biocon will also add 400 scientists over the next three years to its existing 600 research team to advance BMS's plans, said the Syngene's COO, Dr Goutam Das. Currently just about a tenth of its team is engaged in BMS work.

This would be the first BMS research centre in the country.

The ground-breaking event is slated for March 21, the Biocon Chairman and Managing Director, Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, confirmed, without disclosing the financial or research details.

BMS expansion

For BMS, the "broad expansion of R&D in India will allow us to grow competitively while maintaining our industry-leading position in productivity and innovation," said Dr Elliott Sigal, CSO and President, BMS Pharmaceutical Research Institute. "Through this partnership, BMS will continue to access world-class talent to deliver and grow our robust product pipeline."

According to Biocon, which had a consolidated 2005-06 group revenue of Rs 793 crore, the alliance aims to provide cost-effective growth and access to top scientific talent in India. BMS will significantly increase the scope of its existing relationship with Syngene to further develop integrated capabilities in the country in medicinal chemistry, biology, drug metabolism and pharmaceutical development, it said.

Ms Mazumdar-Shaw said, "This (is) one-of-a-kind discovery research partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The new research facility will mark a significant step forward in our evolution as a valuable partner to the global pharmaceutical industry." BMS also sources Biocon's human recombinant insulin in a nine-year contract they signed in 2004.

Syngene currently provides customised R&D services to over 50 small and big pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - among them BMS and Novartis. Dr Das said, "This enhanced partnership heralds a new phase in Syngene's advancing capabilities in providing high end services in discovery research."

BMS & ACCENTURE

In a separate multi-year agreement, BMS said it would expand its relationship with Accenture in India to include support for clinical data and document management, pharma covigilance and scientific writing functions.

According to informed sources, BMS may be investing more than $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) in India over eight years in relation to its agreements with Biocon and Accenture will also provide maintenance and support for R&D information systems through its Life Science Centres for Excellence in Bangalore and Chennai.

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