Waters Corporation, the US-based lab water major, views the emerging markets as its next destination for growth opportunities. The company has an India strategy in place because of the high growth potential in generics development, clinical research and bio-pharma research.

“We have made investments in India and committed to grow the business here. This market, like any of the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, China, Eastern Europe and South East Asian countries, is a fundamental priority for the company”, Diane E Meador, senior director, marketing services Worldwide, Waters Corporation, told Pharmabiz.

Meador is in India to tap the growth areas of the future from India. Through Waters India, its cent percent subsidiary of the parent company, efforts are on to tap the potential customers. “We have seen all sectors of the bio-pharma segment in the emerging markets showing lucrative opportunities. Therefore, we intend to leave no stone unturned”, she said.

Waters which is known for its Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatograph (UPLC) and Mass Spectrometry (MS) are a platform for choice for the life sciences companies. The combination of UPLC and MS have helped customers to maximize the scientific exploration capability for compounds analysis for pharmaceuticals, bulk chemical materials including new chemical entities, by-products, impurities, metabolites, vitamins, nutrients, endogenous compounds like hormones, steroids, lipids, carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides, proteins pesticides, herbicides, inorganic and organic chemicals. In addition, biological matrices like blood, serum, plasma, urine, bile, tissue, in vitro samples, environmental samples like water, soil and forensic samples.

In the last 18-24 months, Waters has introduced a range of promising products like Xevo quadrupole time-of-flight (QTof) mass spectrometer, a bench-top instrument which is highly sensitive for laboratory tests. Its Synapt HDMS System, the first mass spectrometry (MS) has helped to advance research in proteomics, structural biology and small molecule experiments.

For the future, we are looking at chips, nanotechnology and seamless integration of products to cater to small bench sizes keeping sustainability and the green technology factor in perspective. Products of the future would be compact and will address issues to reduce toxicity, said Meador.

The global recessionary phase has left Waters Corporation unscathed because of its brand reputation and customer loyalty, she said. The company which registered earnings to the tune of $1.5 billion in 2008 expects to be on a positive growth curve. Its financial results are expected next week.

However, the global economic slowdown has put forth challenges for lab equipment majors who are putting up with the consolidation of the big pharma companies which has resulted in a dip in use of instruments. Now the task before lab majors is to quickly identify applications for chemical analysis which need support with novel instrumentation.

A visible trend is laboratory technology space is to measure the competence of the equipment to enhance lab productivity and decision-making of users.

In the emerging markets, for Waters generic drug manufacturers are major component of business orders along with clinical and contract research companies All these companies are looking technologies to enable faster time-to-market. Before the month end, Waters is ready to introduce a range to optimize lab and production performance of drug research and manufacturing companies, stated Meador.