The state government of Andhra Pradesh in association with the pharmaceutical industry in the state and outside has initiated two major infrastructure projects in the area of drugs and pharmaceutical production and research. The first project to set up an exclusive industry park for the pharmaceutical industry, 'Pharma City,' in a 1900 acre plot at Vizag, has been estimated at a cost of about $150 million and the second project is a centre of excellence dedicated to pharmaceutical research including discovery in the area of chemicals and biotechnology, drug development and clinical trials and also educational programmes to develop scientific personnel for the future.

The research centre, 'Discovery City', which would come up in Hyderabad, has been allocated a land area of 10 acres by the state government and will be set up by the pharmaceutical industry in the country. The project, which will have all international standard R&D facilities and equipments, has been planned at a total investment of $50 million.

According to Venkat Jasti, president of BDMA and a key member of the state government Task Force on pharmaceuticals, major decisions have already been taken to provide world-class infrastructure to Indian and international pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery, R&D, clinical trials, manufacturing and marketing, with these two projects.

"As a part of the phase I of the Pharma City project, 1900 acres of land has already been sanctioned by the Andhra Pradesh Industry Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and an additional 3,500 acres has been earmarked in phase II", Jasti said. He added that a single-window nodal agency headed by Dr J C Mohanty has been assigned the task of speedy implementation of concerned processes of the project.

The main project, Pharma City, will come under the special economic zone in the coastal city of Vishakapatnam where small and big pharmaceutical companies setting up units would be provided with up-to-the-minute facilities for manufacturing generic drugs worth $90 billion. The nodal agency has also been entrusted the responsibility of appointing an international consulting firm/ agency to prepare the feasibility and terms-of-reference paper for sourcing the initial capital for Pharma City.

Jasti informed that the international agency, which will be short-listed, soon would be assigned the task of either sourcing a single private promoter or a consortium of investors for the project. Pharma City will be developed privately in complete coordination with the Andhra Pradesh government to provide world-class infrastructure for local industry to expand their activities. The Pharma City project will also facilitate Indian and global multinational companies to set up joint ventures or 100 per cent manufacturing subsidiaries.

The Discovery City in Hyderabad for providing world-class education and training in the research segment would be privately set-up with the fund contributed by the pharmaceutical industry. The Institute, which will be named as International Institute of Lifesciences (IILSc), will offer post-graduate and doctoral degrees in pharmaceutical science specialising in drug discovery and will do collaborative research with large international institutes as well as with Indian industry and global life science companies.

The IlLSc has been modelled on the lines of Triangle Park in North Carolina, US, where private pharmaceutical companies have come together to do collaborative research for drug discovery. Jasti added that setting up of such centres of excellence would enable India to capture some of the $5-10 billion new opportunity in the post-GATT/IPR regime in clinical trials also. "We can take advantage of a good number of corporate and research hospitals, patient pool and drug discovery capability under the new regime," he said. Currently, a formal committee under the chairmanship of Dr Anji Reddy, chairman, DRL, has been formed to coordinate with the industry for promoting the Centre. Dr Reddy has put in Rs 5 crore as the initial corpus for the project.

Apart from providing total infrastructure, the Pharma City will focus on environment protective measures of global standard and will provide single-window clearance to entrepreneurs who wish to set up a manufacturing base. The Pharma Park will also have a state-of-the-art common effluent treatment plant, special customs window and bonded warehouse.

According to Jasti, the idea of setting up these projects is to help local industry to expand their activities since post GATT/IPR, there will be immense business opportunities after January, 2005. "We expect a large number of multinational companies to outsource several bulk drugs and generics and India can become one of the global centers to manufacture them. Indeed, Andhra Pradesh has a huge potential for becoming the country's pharma capital considering the fact that it meets 40 per cent of India's pharmaceutical needs," he remarked.

Jasti, who is fast pushing the government's pharma agenda, is confident that the state has the potential to become a leading base for manufacturing various bulk and generics. "What we need is strong infrastructure support from the government and hassle-free atmosphere for promotion of pharmaceutical industry," he said.

Jasti, also said that with these measures, the pharmaceutical industry in state could earn revenue of $10 billion with prospects of getting $2 billion as foreign direct investment. Hence, it can also generate nearly 5 lakh jobs and contribute additional Rs 3,400-crore revenue to the state exchequer.