Global Pharmatech Pvt. Ltd, a contract manufacturing major for sterile dosage forms for humans and veterinary segments will invest US$ 5.5 million to upgrade its facility at Hosur in Tamil Nadu. The funds are sourced from banks and internal accruals.

The company is gearing up for the European market in an year's time. The upgradation of the plant is in progress under the guidance of Dr. Nigel Halls, a leading U.K. based consultant. "We have allocated significant resources for the up gradation project to meet European Union regulatory requirements", stated Kaushik S. Desai, chief executive officer, Global Pharmatech.

Under the plant modernization project, the company is going in for a state-of-the-art purified water generation system, Online Sequential Particle Counter, Rapid Microbial Identification System and an automatic particle inspection machine.

There will also be an automatic crack detection machine for glass ampoules and vials which is being introduced for the first time in India. In addition, there are laboratory and warehouse facilities being upgraded and expanded to take care of additional volumes.

Since no expansion is possible without trained people, Global Pharmatech has developed a structured training modules for its personnel to keep pace with the new developments and be able to cater to the global markets efficiently, informed Desai.

"Going forward, Global Pharmatech's operational efficiency and customer service is going to be the key differentiator in the contract manufacturing segment", stated Kaushik S. Desai.

The company is one of the largest manufacturers of liquid sterile injectables and ophthalmics in India. It undertakes contract manufacturing of sterile dosage forms for human as well as veterinary applications as Small Volume Parenterals (ampoules and vials) as well as Large Volume Parenterals (glass bottles) for customers in the country. Some of the customers are GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Wockhardt, US Vitamins (USV),Cipla, Lupin, Micro Labs, Medreich and East India.

Further, Global Pharmatech is also much-sought-after by companies in Algeria, Chile, Brazil, CIS, Burundi, Bulgaria, UAE, Cameroon, Cambodia, Ghana, Senegal, Jamaica, Iran, Iraq, Mauritius, Oman, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria and Sri Lanka to name a few. The injections and ophthalmic preparations manufactured by the company are marketed by its customers across the world.

The facility located in the Hosur has been WHO GMP certified and ISO 9001: 2000 certified by NQA, UK. The unit is also regularly audited by GSK and Pfizer from UK and USA teams respectively. The plant was set in 1996 and was upgraded in 2003 where two high speed integrated lines for ampoules and vials were installed. The production capacity per month is 10 million units for ampoules of 0.5 ml to 10 ml dosage. It can also produce 5 million vials of 2ml to 10 ml, 200,000 units of bottles in sizes of 450 ml and 400,000 units of bottles in 100 ml.