The Hyderabad-based GVK Biosciences Private Limited (GVK BIO) and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals have entered into a major partnership Agreement to provide research services.

The Agreement was signed recently at Wyeth Pharma's headquarters at Collegeville, USA. The Agreement requires GVK BIO to establish a dedicated discovery chemistry research site to engage 150 synthetic chemists working exclusively for Wyeth.

Frank Walsh, executive vice president and head of Discovery Research at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals said that the growing skill base in Asia, India's adoption in 2005 of patent laws conforming with World Trade Organization provisions, coupled with the high energy and quality of science at GVK BIO, drove the decision to partner with for contract synthetic chemistry services.

"We believe this a groundbreaking collaboration for the industry and represents a truly exciting opportunity to expand our drug discovery capabilities by accessing the ever-growing chemistry skills base in Asia," he added.

Magid Abou-Gharbia, senior vice-president and head, Chemical and Screening Sciences at Wyeth said, "The collaboration with GVK BIO represents a critical avenue to effectively complement Wyeth's in-house synthetic chemistry efforts, and the anticipated synergies will add a new dimension to chemical research, building on the Wyeth expertise in Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Syntheses, to enhance drug discovery at Wyeth."

D S Brar, chairman of GVK BIO commented, "It is a privilege to be selected by Wyeth as the preferred partner for this major collaboration. He added, "This collaboration emphasizes and validates India's emerging capabilities in the contract research services industry."

Sanjay Reddy, CEO, GVK BIO said that this alliance would become a trendsetter in the way contract research business is carried out in India, and pave way for many international companies to look at long-term contracts with Indian CROs.

The partnership will commence with 30 chemists on site in Hyderabad by the beginning of 2006 and is expected to grow to a total of 150 chemists by early 2007. It is expected that this collaboration will have a significant impact on the efficiency and productivity of small molecule drug discovery at Wyeth.