Sigma Aldrich Chemical Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the US-based life sciences and high technology major dealing with a range of biochemical and organic chemical products and kits, has invested Rs 48 crore on a facility at the Bommasandra Industrial Area in the outskirts of Bangalore. The new unit, on a 10-acre plot in the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) layout will be commissioned in mid-July this year. Under the first phase, 140,000 sq. ft built-up area will house research labs for in-house and contract research assignments apart from a warehouse.

The new facility will also see increase in its current personnel strength from 50 to 100 by 2006 end.

The investment in the new facility comes with promising business opportunities in contract research. Going by the huge investment by pharma-biotech companies in the country in the research and development space, Sigma too with its expertise in synthetic organic chemistry, is gearing to tap the market, Raja Ram, managing director, Sigma Aldrich Chemicals told Pharmabiz.

It is contract research which is the key driver for biotech industry growth and there is a market for all. However Sigma is looking specifically at complex contract research jobs and not just front-end library creation.
The current market value could perhaps be around $70-80 million and in this space GVK and Chem Biotec and Syngene are the key players.

The main reason for India becoming a hub for contract research in synthetic organic chemistry and custom synthesis is that outsourcing research capabilities from here is cheaper compared to China, Brazil and East Bloc. "We are by far better in terms of technical talent, English language skills, expertise by companies and the Intellectual Property Rights regime, all of which are the critical factors in favour of India, pointed out Raja Ram.

In the outsourcing business, companies are not just looking at cost but in the capability of turnaround deliverable time as business of $ 2-3 million is generated a day from contract research. Despite the immense potential, the opportunity which is tapped in contract research is still miniscule for India, informed Raja Ram.

The US-based Sigma Aldrich, a $1.7 billion Life Science company is spread over 36 global locations and the Indian operations look after Sri Lanka and Bangladesh business. The company's biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. Its customers include companies, university labs and government institutions.