The joint venture company, Synergia-Wintac, is on an aggressive drive to generate vertical growth through the Contract Research And Manufacturing Services. Under the joint venture agreement Synergia, the business partner, has converted Wintac's R&D and manufacturing strengths in the area of injectables and sustained release capsules into a profitable and preferred outsourced facility for global pharma majors.

Among the latest efforts is a Rs 10 crore investment by Wintac to upgrade its facility at Neelamangala in the outskirts of Bangalore for a US FDA clearance which expected latest by 2007 end. This will allow Synergia to help Wintac to gain a foothold in the stringent regulated markets of the West for contract manufacture and research orders. Other projects under the joint venture include developing ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug Application) dossiers for more than 10 products to be launched in the US in 2007. This will be followed by 25 to 30 additional dossier submissions in partnership with international mid-sized global pharma outsourcing companies from India, Tobby Simon, CEO, Synergia Lifesciences told Pharmabiz.

Synergia, has been engaged in concrete international business initiatives for several companies worldwide including in-licensing of new molecules, out-licensing of products, chemistry and biology services related to new drug discovery.

"Going by the potential for contract research projects from the US and Europe, under the Synergia-Wintac umbrella we have slated an additional investment of Rs.25 crore to set-up a separate R&D facility at Neelamangala. Currently, the research work is being undertaken at its existing centre, which was upgraded with a Rs 2 crore investment and having a capacity to handle around 50 drug development projects, informed Simon.

Post the JV, Wintac pumped in revenues to the tune of Rs 8 crore for plant modernization. It received approvals from French regulatory agency AFSSAPS (Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé), INVIMA (Instituto National de Vigilancia de Medicamentos Alimentos), Republic of Columbia and DNV, UK. It also received European Union Good Manufacturing Practices compliance and ISO 9001:2000 certification. This enabled it to grab orders from international customers. Wintac is headed by S Jayaprakash Mady.

The decade-old Synergia, has been engaged in helping international pharma majors in marketing, research and manufacturing strategies. It is a research partner with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and is associated with MIT's Centre for Transportation Logistics (CTL) on optimisation of the global pharmaceutical supply chain. The company is also a regional partner of the Harvard Business School's Health Industry Alumni Association, where it provides a platform for HBS alumni to access resources. It has also partnered with Nobel Prize winner, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to audit Indian companies and assist the World Health Organization to access affordable drugs for developing countries.

In Bangalore, Synergia has inked pacts with Strand for Bioinformatics and Pradot for medical technologies. While Synergia-Strand will offer ADMET (Adsorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity) a software application for expensive experimental procedures, Synergia- Pradot would provides back office services in Patient Life Cycle Management.