SVS, the Spanish consultancy company providing consultancy, regulatory affairs and manufacturing and laboratory standard compliance services to life sciences industry, is entering into India with an office at Mumbai to cater the regulatory needs of large and medium sized pharmaceutical companies in the country.

The company, which is having offices in eight countries including Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, Brazil and China is planning to offer engineering, GMP advice, validation and quality control and auditing services to Indian companies in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), drug products, medical devices, biotechnology, health care organizations, R&D facilities and clinical trials sector, according to company officials.

The company, which will open its first office at Mumbai in the second half of February, is expected to commence operations within next six months. As the first step of establishing operations, the company will soon initiate discussion with potential members in the pharmaceutical industry for business. With a global clientele list of major pharma - biotech companies including Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, Wyeth, Aventis, Bayer and Johnson and Johnson, the company has already set up its roots in the Indian industry.

The gushing of Indian pharma companies towards the fast growing regulated markets and the emergence of clinical trial industry is creating tremendous potential for the company's operation in the country, said Guillermo Pomphile, business developer, SVS, Switzerland. "After establishing our operations in Mumbai, we would analyse the potential of setting up our branches in other business hubs of the country like Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi," he added. The Mumbai office is expected to be fully established in next two years.

"We would also engage in connecting the European companies with Indian manufacturers for partnership, as we have a strong hold in Europe," Pomphile explained as added service. However, he refused to reveal any financial information about the plans.

The SVS, with more than 200 specialized professionals including pharmacists, engineers (industrial, chemical, automatism, IT), biologists and chemists, is also offering services to companies for GMP assessment and third party audits.