Accutest Research Laboratories, a full service clinical research organization with core strength in Bioequivalence/Bioavailability and Pharmacokinetic studies and Formulation Development, has opened its second facility. This is a state-of-the-art clinical trial laboratory at Ahmedabad with an investment of 7 crore.

The company not only caters to Indian market but serves customers in the US, Europe, South Africa and Japan.

According to Dr Nirav Gandhi, VP, an investment of Rs 7 crore has been made for the new facility on infrastructure and equipments while a combined investment of Rs 22 crore has been made in two facilities at Ahmedabad.

It has been functioning at Ahmedabad since 2005. Within a short span of two years, it has expanded its independent new facility at Ahmedabad. It will function as an independent CRO with a state-of-the-art Analytical Lab, In-house pathology Lab, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs & Quality Compliance, Documentation and Report Preparation.

Its infrastructure consists of Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Bio-Analytical and In-House Pathology Lab. It is the first centre in India to have API-5000 LCMS/MS machines for research. The existing centres at Ahmedabad have been successfully audited by US FDA and WHO. The centres in Ahmedabad have been stretched on an area of 42,000 sq ft. It has a combined manpower of 105 professionals employed from varied scientific backgrounds across these two centres. Both the centres have a combined capacity of 175 beds.

"The CRO market in India has been growing at a fast pace since 2001 and is expected to cross the US$ 1 billion mark by 2010 from US $200 million in the year 2006, with almost 50 per cent growth every year. There is a huge potential untapped for India as currently the country accounts for less than 5 per cent of global clinical trials. And since Gujarat has large number of pharma manufacturing units, Accutest targets to capture a major share of the CRO market by 2010 through its Gujarat operations" says Dr Santosh Joshi, COO & Director, Accutest Labs.

"Accutest has grown almost 60 per cent every year since last three years and expects to continue its high growth trajectory for the next three years. Accutest aspires to evolve as a total partner in drug development process by 2010. We are expecting to be amongst first three CROs in India and to evolve as a significant global player by 2010." Stated Dr Satish Sawant, CEO Accutest Labs. It also plans to expand in the area of bio - analytical laboratory, formulation development, clinical trials and clinical data management in the near future.