Himalaya Drug Company's research and development department is on an expansion mode. The company is investing in a range of test equipments, increasing its manpower and establishing a full-fledged R&D lab at Bidadi in the outskirts of Bangalore.

Dr. SK Mitra, executive director, research and technical services, The Himalaya Drug Company, during an interaction with Pharmabiz said "There are no fixed budget allotments since the investments are project-driven. When it comes to bringing in safe and effective products, the company does not have any funding limits. But adequate requirements of finances are made for equipment purchase, manpower hiring among others."

The R&D wing which underwent major upgradation three years ago will now have new lab equipment, which will include LSMS and mass spectrometry.

Currently the company's R&D strength is 85 scientists including MDs in pharmacology, PhDs, post-doctoral fellows, masters' degree holders in various scientific disciplines like pharmaceutical and cosmetic technology, phytochemistry, pharmacognosy, analytical chemistry, microbiology, cell and molecular biology and histopathology. It is also constantly scouting for talented research personnel. The company is not only on the look out for senior personnel but also fresh graduates and hence has a comprehensive campus selection process conducted at a national level.

The Bidadi facility of the company, which is a Rs. 160 crore investment, is currently being designed. The first phase will have the global regulatory compliant export production house and the second phase will have the state- of-the-art research lab.

Himalaya's R&D department is recognised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences for the PhD programmes. Other universities coming under the project would be in Pune and Chennai.

With regards to the drug development initiatives, Himalaya is on the human trials stage for its second psychiatric drug after Mentat for depression. It is also aggressively pursuing experimental trials for drugs in cancer, tropical disease and AIDS. Currently assessments are on the cell lines.

"Being an indigenous company, we have realised the need to develop therapeutics that combat disease conditions specific to developing countries, which include India. Hence the research focus includes dengue, malaria, infectious and viral diseases," informed Dr. Mitra.

The company is also increasing its product range in animal healthcare with new launches for the poultry and milching animals. In an era of bird flu and mad cow disease threats, it is vital to provide veterinary drugs to safeguard the human health. Not only that the animal healthcare market is on an upswing going by the support provided by the Government of India in the area of animal husbandry.

"The research and development efforts at Himalaya have always provided equal focus to animal and human healthcare drugs," stated Dr. Mitra.

The Rs. 350 crore herbal major Himalaya which is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with several pharmaceutical grade herbal products for health and personal care is positioning itself as a global standard player in herbal healthcare.