Facility expansion, acquisitions, foreign direct investments, collaborations, hiring and access to new markets have been some of the major achievements of 10 life sciences companies in Karnataka in 2010. These include Micro Labs, Strides Arcolab and Shilpa Medicare in the pharma sector, Biocon in bio-pharma sector, Opto Circuits in the medical devices space, Novozymes in pharma enzymes, Semler Research in clinical and contract research, Kemwell in contract manufacture, Advinus in drug discovery and Manipal Hospital in the healthcare space.



The year began with the acquisitions of Biovel Lifesciences, a bio pharmaceutical start-up venture by Ranbaxy. This was followed by Merck KGaA, a global pharmaceutical and chemical company, acquiring the Bangalore-based Millipore India’s parent company to become Millipore Corporation to be renamed as Merck Millipore, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.



US generic drug major, Alvogen Inc invested US$ 5 million to set up Norwich Clinical Services and an active pharma ingredient (API) sourcing office in Bangalore.



Advinus Therapeutics, the pharma research and development wing of the Tata Group, earmarked investments up to Rs.. 300 crore to expand its facilities at Bangalore and Pune besides looking at another Greenfield option.



Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, set up an advanced research & development centre at Whitefield in Bangalore to offer global support services.



Semler Research Centre, subsidiary of Semler Group, commissioned its 25,000 sq ft centre for drug evaluation and pharmacology research in Bangalore



Bulk drug and formulation major Micro Labs, which exports to 60 countries, added on USA and European countries as its latest markets in 2010.



Commenting on the pharma sector in Karnataka, Anjan K Roy, president, Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceutical Association, and managing director, RL Fine Chem, said the state units performed well compared to 2009. Companies have made efforts to work out aggressive strategies to garner growth. Ending fiscal 2009- 2010, the state registered a turnover of Rs.. 6,500 crore with a growth rate of 10 per cent.



The heightened activity in research and licensing alliances as well as the rush for a piece of the emerging markets' pie, saw the global biotech industry direct its attention on India in 2010. In the year ahead, India's biotech industry must capitalize on all these opportunities to drive higher growth. Biocon is optimally positioned to build on the strong foundation it has laid during the past 12 months - primarily, its ground breaking pact with Pfizer for the global commercialization of its bio similar, insulin and insulin analog products and its foreign direct investment in Malaysia's Bio-XCell. This will provide the company with an international location of strategic geographical proximity to India, said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director Biocon Ltd and head, Vision Group on Biotechnology, government of Karnataka



According to Vinod Ramnani, chairman and managing director, Opto Circuits (India) Ltd, the year 2010 has been period of consolidation, M&As and emerging market focused products for the medical device industry. “At Opto, 2010 has been one of milestones. We have grown from a monitoring & minimally invasive device company to providing diagnostics and non-invasive therapeutic products. Acquisitions of Unetixs Vascular, N.S. Remedies and Cardiac Science have helped strengthen our brand equity, extend our product offering and leverage the global distribution network,” he added.



Over the last decade, Karnataka evolved into a life sciences-friendly ecosystem and bagged ‘BioSpectrum state of the year 2010 award’ instituted by the Cyber Media Group.