Global pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca which has already invested $100 million will continue to invest in the country based on the growth emerging out of the markets here. The company has invested $15 million in setting up a Process Research and Development lab in Bangalore which is the base of all of Indian activities for the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals major. These investments for research in India are the first outside Europe for the world's fifth largest global drug major.

"The PR&DL further demonstrates our commitment in India and a facility of this kind will leverage the country's strengths in process chemistry," stated David Brennan, chief executive officer, AstraZeneca plc, at a press conclave after the formal opening the PR&D Lab in Bangalore.

"India is an important destination and we will continue to invest in India," asserted the AstraZeneca CEO.

With regards to the intellectual property (IP) efforts, Brennan said, "IP is the fundamental underpinning of the basic research in a pharmaceutical industry. Indian pharmaceutical and biotech companies are now engaged in active IP protection in conjunction with the WTO, though it is still behind the developed countries". India has the potential to be IP fostering innovation, he added.

On the 3,000 job freeze announced by the company which is 4.6 per cent of its global workforce, Brennan said that India is unaffected. The company had excess capacity in its supply chain and the cuts would be made over the next three years, to help it maintain financial performance in an increasingly competitive environment.

The Bangalore PR&DL is the fourth for AstraZeneca. The other three are located in UK ( Two Labs) and Sweden. The Indian lab will strengthen the existing PR&DL programmes as well as provide support to the existing drug discovery project in Bangalore engaged in finding a cure for tuberculosis. PR&DL discovers and develops the manufacturing routes for the active ingredients in potential new medicines. This facility will house multi-disciplinary teams of scientists and specialists involved in chemistry, analytical, process engineering and project management.

The Indian scientists will coordinate with those in the UK and Sweden to work with the best process, concluded Brennan.