The Hindu Business Line : Decks cleared for Biocon's insulin plant

Hyderabad April 24 Decks have been cleared for biotech major Biocon's proposed insulin plant in Visakhapatnam as the formalities for handing over of 50 acres of land for the company have been completed.

"All procedures are completed and the letter of allotment has been sent to the company," Mr K.V.K. Reddy, Director of Biotechnology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, told Business Line.

The company has been given land in the Jawahar Pharma City in Visakhapatnam, developed by the Ramky Group for setting up an insulin plant. "There could be over Rs 500-crore investment in the plant initially, albeit the company has plans to pump in Rs 1,000 crore investment into the State," Mr Reddy said. Further, the procedures for allotment of 15 acres of land in the ICICI Knowledge Park Phase III for Biocon, for the R&D facility, are nearly complete. "The allocation will be done very soon," the official said. Meanwhile, the works on previously announced biotech incubation centre at the ICICI Knowledge Park are completed.

"In all probability, the centre will be fully operational by August this year. We are expecting that it would be of great advantage for SMEs in the biotech industry here," he said. The incubation centre has been developed with over Rs 26 crore, and it can be upgraded further depending on the usage and demand.

In view of the escalating costs to meet the environmental norms in R&D, many pharma SMEs had been demanding that R&D facilities be extended to them by the Government on a pay-and-use method.

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