Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, a division of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), will soon have a full-fledged biotech research group in place to complement the ongoing R&D activities in the company. The biotech group has identified prostrate cancer as an area of priority for research and will try to identify gene targets and validate it. The group is also to initiate talks with The University of Southern Queensland, Australia, to explore possibilities of collaborative research in the area.

According to Dr Kulvinder Singh Saini, director, Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, the biotech R&D wing headed by him has already identified 15 to 20 potential candidates that can undergo cloning and over expression in cell lines.

Dr Saini informed that a team of 22 scientists should be working on the programme within a couple of months. He also said that he would look for “the growth factors for biomolecules” as intellectual property generation is also a major objective of the research team.

Dr. Rashmi Barbhaiya, head, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories informed that RLL has decided to earmark six percent of its annual turnover in year 2003 for research and development activities. The percentage of turnover set apart for R&D during 2002 was 4.5. He said that the R&D division has planned a host of programmes for the current year and is also in talks with several international institutions for collaborative research. He declined to specify on the companies plans for biotech research and hinted that the entire programme will be of complementary nature to the ongoing activites.