Indian pharmaceutical majors like Dr Reddy's Laboratory, Ranbaxy, Orchid, Aurobindo Pharma, as part of their analytical facility upgradation, have installed multiple seats of 'Empower Software', the chromatography software developed by Waters Corporation, USA. The world's leading analytical software company, which is currently in the process of intensive negotiation with a lot of pharmaceutical companies here has already installed the software in more than 120 sites in the country.

According to K.V. Venugopalan, President, Waters India Pvt. Ltd, within a short period after its launch, the latest chromatography product has made a significant presence in the pharma industry in India. The company has already made quite significant deals with the top pharma companies.

The software priced at $ 10,000 per unit was introduced in March 2002. The product is currently Waters' flagship chromatography product. Empower Software represents a fundamental shift in chromatography data system (CDS) usability by replacing cumbersome add-ins (i.e., system components that provide added functionality through distinct installations) to a more scaleable switch-on approach. A single window construct allows the user to remain within the application, instead of accessing a range of applications using cascaded windows. The software began shipping to customers in June.

"The US-FDA recently passed a law making it mandatory for the pharma companies to maintain electronic recording of the data's involved in research and production. Therefore majority of the companies based abroad have already become interested in such products. There is a lot of potential in the market," said William B. Maxwell, manager, Global Services Business Development.

Waters Corporation, headquartered in Milford, Massachusetts is the world's largest provider of HPLC instrumentation, chromatography chemistries, results management software, and related support services. The company reported record revenues of $ 859 million for 2001 and has 3,500 employees. The company's Millennium chromatography software, first introduced in 1992, has more than 30,000 copies in use worldwide. Waters India is headquartered in Bangalore with six regional offices in the country.