SRL Ranbaxy, a leading provider of diagnostic services, is entering into more tie-ups with hospitals in Europe to conduct pathology tests. The company has entered into agreement with UK-based group of hospitals for conducting clinical laboratory testing. The company will obtain clinical samples and test at its labs in India. The operations are expected to begin by middle of next year.

“Bouyed by our successful agreement with other chain of hospitals in UK, which was taken off by April, we have again entered into other tie-ups with 10-12 hospitals in UK. We are the first in India to outsource the laboratory testing from UK,” Amar Das Gupta, director, operations told Pharmabiz.

“They were convinced that our labs and facilities are on par with international standards and the study results were also compared with those of other international labs and they were satisfied with it. Presently, the hospitals are in agreement with other labs. Hence, the works will be started by the middle of 2006,” he added. SRL Ranbaxy has been outsourcing the laboratory works from hospitals in Middle East countries and also in tie-up with hospitals in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Nationwide the company is setting up 5 more labs to increase the number to 20. They are tying up with hospitals belongs to Fortis Healthcare in Delhi, Jalandhar and Bangalore to manage the pathology labs in those hospitals. Fortis Healthcare is a sister concern of SRL Ranbaxy.

In the clinical trial segment, the company has already conducted around 400 trials, 40-45 trials are ongoing and negotiations are on for another 20 trials, Gupta informed.

SRL Ranbaxy is the first clinical laboratory in India to be accredited with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratory (NABL), College of American Pathologists (CAP) and ISO IEC 17025 protocols. Right from its inception the company has conducted more than 25 million tests.