The Central government, through the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, is contemplating major projects including establishment of two pharma clusters, a pharma city, a vaccine development centre and four R&D hubs in the country to augment the manufacturing and R&D capacity of the Indian pharmaceutical sector.

As the first phase of the proposed Pharma India Vision 2020, which emphasises on developing adequate infrastructure to support the expected growth in the India pharma industry, the department will set up a Pharma City in Andhra Pradesh. The DoP is in talks with the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation to develop an 800 to 900 acre cluster in Hyderabad, said Ashok Kumar, secretary, DoP on the sidelines of the 43rd Annual General Meeting of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) in Mumbai.

"Our plans are to develop the Pharma City as a major hub for R&D and manufacturing activities. A high end incubator centre will also be included in this. We are still in talks with the corporation and various leading agencies. A Special Purpose Vehicle would be set up for the execution of the project," said Kumar. He added that the project is envisaged to complete in two years from the time of initiation of ground works.

Meanwhile, the DoP is also contemplating to set up R&D Hubs in various parts of the country including Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai. The proposed hubs will have incubation centre, wet labs, common facilities in line with the facilities and standards of the Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, US. The department will support the industry through allotment of land, if it is available, and the facilities would address the projects till the stage of manufacturing, reveals Kumar.

The department has identified two states - Gujarat and Tamil Nadu - to develop pharma clusters for clean technology and clean technology demonstration systems under a joint scheme with the United Nation's South-South Centre.

The South-South Centre will invest US$ 250000 whereas US$ 100000 will be inducted by the DoP and another US$ 2500 is expected to come from the relevant state governments. The proposal is yet to be cleared by the authorities and the DoP will soon discuss the project with the Gujarat and Tamil Nadu state governments.

The DoP is also in talks with a couple of multinational vaccine manufacturing companies to set up a vaccine development centre in the country. The project is to develop and manufacturing various vaccines in the country with the help of the MNCs. The DoP is planning to have either exclusive partnership with a company or a joint mission with more than one company to set up the centre.

Besides, a project to set up a high end medical device cluster in Gujarat, to provide technical support to the growing medical devices industry in the country, is also in the pipeline. A pre-feasibility report on the project is being prepared by the consultant firm, IL&FS and the project is expected to take off in mid September 2009. The cluster would be facilitated with all common facilities including sterilisation and testing systems.

Ashok Kumar also invited the OPPI and its members to share their comments and opinion on the DoP's activities. The opinions and suggestions from the industry are needed to improve the projects for the use of the pharma companies, he added.