AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd., now in the process of constructing a new state-of-the art process research & development laboratory (PR&D) at an investment of US $11.9 million, plans to commission the facility by November 2006. The lab is coming up in 8,000 sq. m built up area, next to its present facility on Bellary Road in Bangalore.
“The decision to set up a PR&D in Bangalore by the parent company in UK is to support the initial process development of candidate drugs discovered in Bangalore, low cost alternative to outsourcing and to support increased commercial bulk drug activities in Asia,” Dr. Ulf Kruger, associate director, Engineering & Facilities, Sweden Business Services, AstraZeneca Plc told Pharmabiz.
He said the lab in Bangalore would be at par with AstraZeneca's Global Process R&D facilities in the UK, Sweden and US and would act as an important centre of the AstraZeneca Plc drug discovery research programme. The two-storied lab will have the latest HVAC Equipment, large fume cupboards among other installations. It will house bench scale labs, process safety lab, process-engineering lab, analytical testing labs and a large-scale lab with utilities, storage and infrastructure. The design of the PR&D is fully integrated into the current R&D facility where the tuberculosis drug research programme is in full swing. The new lab is expected to hire 25 process chemistry scientists within the first year.
"The Project will be completed by mid-2006. It will take a couple of more months to commission and validate the equipment and systems before it is put to beneficial operation. The lab adopts the design feature of the UK facility," said Dr. Ulf Kruger.
PR&D will focus mainly on Phase I trials in drug development programme. It will essentially upscale the results of earlier trials conducted at the AstraZeneca R&D Centre in Bangalore using process chemistry techniques. Research works will include the TB drug candidate from AstraZeneca India, apart from research into other critical and infectious disease segments pursued by its parent company at other sites.
At present, the company has a process development centre at its manufacture facility located in Yelahanka in the outskirts of Bangalore. This will be relocated to the new facility with 25 scientists. AstraZeneca India will ramp up its scientists’ strength to 50.
In India, AstraZeneca's operations are through AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd. (AZIPL), an integrated part of the AstraZeneca R&D network mainly focused on TB research; AstraZeneca Research Foundation (AZREFI), which supports education and technological innovation by organising seminars and symposia; and AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited (AZPIL), the marketing company, with interests in six major therapeutic areas (gastrointestinal, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience, gynaecology and respiratory) and a production plant adhering to WHO- cGMP.