CD Pharma India, a major player in the probiotics' finished products, will soon launch its R&D services by setting up a microbiology lab in New Delhi with an investment of Rs 50 crore to take up advance researches in probiotics therapy.

The company has shortlisted some names of labs for possible tie-ups in this regard. The lab is expected to be fully operational within next two years, company's country manager Kawaldeep Chadha told Pharmabiz. The company would send the research personnel to foreign countries for training with a view to ensure global standards at the lab, he added.

"The main objective of this venture is to specifically study and identify the particular enzymes and to assure their proper numbers in a particular drug so that the affectivity of a particular drug consisting a particular enzyme could be identified", Chadha added.

He claimed that the benefits of probiotics were increasingly accepted by the medical fraternity now. But at the same time there are some risks associated with it too. In probiotics, helpful bacteria are provided to the body. But if they are not safe enough, pathogens are being given to a person who is already unwell, which would do more harm, he said.