The Hindu Business Line : Altana Pharma to set up R&D centre in Mumbai

Dr Petra Zubiller of pZ-point - international pharma service, Germany, displays the badge of `Miittelstand goes to India', a Mittelstand initiative of German SMEs and Indian counterparts. The German delegation participated in BioAsia 2005 in Hyderabad on Friday. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , Feb. 11

THE German pharmaceutical major, Altana Pharma, has chalked out a plan to set up its own Research & Development Centre in India, focussing on medicinal chemistry to begin with, the Managing Director of its Indian subsidiary, Dr Volker Figala, announced here on Friday.

Talking to newspersons along with the German delegation touring the country for business opportunities at the BioAsia-2005, the global bio-business summit, Dr Figala said the company has acquired 10,000 square metres of land at Andheri in Mumbai for the proposed R&D Centre.

The facility, coming up on 6,000 square metres built-up area, was estimated to cost euro 9.8 million (Rs 55 crore). The total German investments in India were in the range of euro 60 million, Dr Figala said.

Stating that the construction activities of the R&D Centre would begin during the second-half of this year, he said the company plans to begin the recruitment of scientists for the centre by June-July.

According to Dr Figala, the new research areas of the company include gastroenterology, respiratory and oncology. "The Mumbai facility could be the hub for our oncology research," he said.

Dr Amal K. Mukhopadhyay of AgeLab Pharma Gmbh, who was leading the Indo German Round Table delegation, said the German delegation was exploring the opportunities in the areas of biotechnology in India. He was of the view that the bureaucratic problems that bogged down foreign investments into India, were now being cleared.

With the country coming out with new Patent Ordinance, the German companies would now feel comfortable on the issue of intellectual property rights, he said.

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