Eurofins Global Central Laboratory (EGCL) has entered the Indian market to set up an advanced Central Laboratory in Bangalore. The details of investment have not been disclosed.

The laboratory in India complements the EGCL current global footprint of wholly-owned laboratory facilities in the United States, Europe, Singapore and China. Now with three central laboratories operating in the Asia-Pacific region, EGCL is considered as one of the top central laboratory networks in the world.

Solely dedicated to providing laboratory testing in clinical trials, Eurofins Global Central Laboratory is uniquely positioned since only few Contract Research Organizations (CROs) offer a similar global footprint. This expansion of our global footprint allows us to bring more value to our customers, and makes EGCL a unique world-wide source for laboratory testing in clinical trials, stated René van Erp, managing director, EGCL.

The developments in the Indian pharmaceutical sector, coupled with the country’s research into generic drugs, holds a lot of promise for firms like Eurofins, which maintains the best of the world standards in testing. “Our entry into the Indian space offers lot of advantages to local clients, significant being the reduced costs for tests. The facilities at the Bangalore lab are on par with any of our top labs. The company is not directly involved in selecting the candidates for clinical trials; but assist easier investigation for objective results. India is home to a number of small and large pharmaceutical companies whose diverse requirements are met by the Bangalore laboratory. Going forwards, we will gradually expand our testing portfolio depending on the market requirements; the Bangalore lab plays a critical role in the global operations of Eurofins,” he added.

According to Dr Raghavendra Karanth, laboratory director, India EGCL, the Bangalore facility operates like an extension of the other Eurofins central labs as all laboratory equipment, methods, operating procedures and quality standards are identical to those in our sister laboratories. Sponsors can expect similar results in India, with the benefit of having a reduced cost of transportation to either Europe or United States.

The  facility offers a full package of safety testing, as well as biomarker testing. Upon its launch, the facility is certified with the National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Programme (NGSP) Level 1 accreditation, and should achieve NABL and CAP accreditations within its first year of operation. Further, the facility’s location gives it easy access to the transportation infrastructure in India, enabling close control over transportation and maintenance of specimen integrity, he added.

Eurofins operates one of the industry’s leading central laboratories worldwide, supporting clinical trials in more than 50 countries across six continents.