Chennai based ABL Biotechnologies Limited, a listed company established in 1991, will be launching a new state of the art R&D facility at Ticel Biopark, Chennai.
The new centre set up with an investment of Rs 25 crore over the year, on a 10,000 sq feet of land will be inaugurated on January 8 by Dr T Ramasamy, Secretary, Ministry of science and Technology. The new facility will focus on natural products, nutraceuticals, therapeutics, microbial research and drug discovery.
The new R&D facility is well equipped with BSL II facilities and is also the only one of its domain to receive recognition and accreditation from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Speaking at a press meet held in Chennai, K O Isaac, chairman and managing director, ABL Biotechnologies Ltd, said, "ABL's R&D efforts are centered around the enormous potential of Indian biodiversity for the production of new tools to both fight as well as prevent disease. The targeted marine and terrestrial microbial metabolites find application in the areas of nutrition, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and industrial intermediates in the sectors that have consistently recorded a growth rate in the excess of 50 per cent and are expected to maintain the same trend over the next decade."
ABL has set up the largest marine microbial culture collection and compound library in India, which forms the basis of its bioactive and drug development programs. ABL has created infrastructure for the production of metabolites from phototrophic organisms at its Tiruchendur plant. The company has also setup three divisions namely, Spectrum, Invia health and Sanctum for producing finished formulations for pharma industry, marketing its own therapeutics and FMHG segment respectively.
Speaking about the company's other ventures, Isaac said that the company was in the process of filing an application for the US FDA approval for an Alzheimer product, within the next few months. There were also plans to set up new manufacturing facilities. The company is poised to achieve a Rs 50 crore turnover in one year and Rs 500 crore in five years time. "We have a lot of products in the pipeline to be commercialized so we would be achieving the targeted turnover by commercialising one by one," he added.