The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the US-based National Institute of Health (NIH) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up an international centre for the evaluation of biotech and pharma products in Hyderabad, with an outlay of Rs 100 crore.

Addressing the media soon after signing and agreement between ICICI Knowledge Park and Apollo Hospitals which would help clinical trial facilities at the Park, for the ICMR centre, B P Acharya, secretary, Industry and Commerce, Government of Andhra Pradesh, informed that the proposed testing centre would house the country's largest primate facility for animal testing and screening of biotech and pharma products.

The state government had allotted 100 acres of land adjacent to the Park on the outskirts of the city for the Centre. The Centre, together with the proposed animal breeding house, the industrial incubator, the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) Centre and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) laboratory, which was still under consideration, would provide immense facilities for the companies which were setting up R&D labs in the Park, Acharya said.

As part of the knowledge networking activities, the ICICI Park, in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, was organizing an International Knowledge Millennium Conference -IKMC 2002 on Drug Discovery & Healthcare in the Knowledge Economy - India's Opportunities, on November 24 and 25, Acharya informed.