Pharmabiz
 

Sai Life to scale up medicinal chemistry outsourcing

Y V Phani Raj, HyderabadThursday, May 25, 2006, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

Sai Life Sciences, an integrated chemistry service provider across the development cycle with focus on custom synthesis, building blocks / libraries, process development and scale-up, and cGMP manufacturing, is setting up a new contract research facility near International Biotech Park at Hinjewadi, near Pune. The facility will be operational in July, 2006, Dr K Ranga Raju, managing director and CEO of Sai Life Sciences, said. The company is also taking up initiatives for the establishment of a Technology Development Centre, at ICICI Knowledge Park in Shameerpet, near Hyderabad, which is likely to be operational by the end of 2007. In the next three years, the company is planning to expand its team from the current 400 personnel to 650. The company has established two research and development centres in and around Hyderabad focusing on medicinal chemistry and two WHO GMP approved process R & D units in Hyderabad and Bidar for APIs. The company also sees scope to set up exclusive facilities for conducting pharmacokinetic studies and formulations development in the near future, Dr Raju said. With prime interest in contract research, the company is serving top pharmaceutical MNCs and biotechnology companies. It has client base mainly in the US and Europe. It is also finding enormous potential in countries like Japan, Australia, Israel and Korea. Medicinal chemistry will emerge as a major strength of the company in the coming years and will make the company a preferred partner for companies across the world and particularly those in the US and Europe, which are looking to India for outsourcing such services. The prime focus of the company will remain to be lucrative overseas markets as the domestic market doesn't offers the cost advantage, he added. Sai Life Sciences aims to leverage India Advantage with its quality and cost competitive edge to serve the global markets in the areas of drug discovery, new molecules, compounds, new chemical entities. The global outsourcing market is estimated to be about USD 53 billion.

 
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