Biocon invests Rs.200 crore to open advanced R&D centre
Biocon Limited invested Rs.200 crore to open up its advanced integrated research and development centre located within the Biocon Park.
The company will now carry out all its in-house drug research activities focusing on chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer and auto immune. The company is now gearing up to hire an additional 300 scientists to deliver affordable innovation solutions.
“Our objective is to pursue world class research on biologics that will address the unmet medical needs, said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon Limited.
The research centre spread across 200,000 sq. ft houses a molecular lab, biologics process science labs, formulations development lab, molecular characterization lab, functional bioassay lab and pre-clinical and clinical development, is a first-of-its-kind in south India. It is equipped with cutting edge instrumentation for extensive molecular and functional characterization of biologics, she added.
The centre for research excellence will pursue an innovation-led effort to develop advanced yet affordable solutions for several debilitating diseases, said Shaw adding that it would help galvanize the best talent both in India and abroad. It would offer an intellectually stimulating environment combined with an enabling eco-system to conduct path breaking research for biopharmaceuticals. An independent quality group at BRC will ensure compliance to Good Laboratory Practices and international regulatory guidelines to develop ‘best in class’ biologics and biosimilars.
Now the company is emerging as a global biopharmaceutical major focused on innovation to develop affordable products and service for patients. Our strategic research and marketing partnerships will help deliver high value and licensable R&D assets. Present strength of the Biocon Research Centre (BRC) is 300 scientists but the facility has a total capacity for 600 researchers. Therefore massive hiring is on, she said.
According to Dr Abhijit Barve, president, R&D, Biocon, the facility will allow cross pollination of ideas across groups that will breed a new culture of innovation.
BRC will attract the outstanding scientists from the best research institutes and the leaders will participate in technical programmes as an effective way to enable innovation through knowledge sharing.
BRC has also a dedicated a research wing in honour of Prof. CNR Rao, Prof. C N R Rao, FRS, National Research Professor; Linus Pauling Research Professor; honorary president, JNCASR; chairman, Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.
The facility was inaugurated today by Nobel Laureate Prof. Kurt Wuthrich. Others present on the occasion where heads of the Indian Institute of Science, Prof. P Balaram, National Centre for Biological Sciences Prof. K Vijayraghavan and Prof. CNR Rao of JNCSAR.
Biocon invests
Sudans assure India about safety of OVL's oil assets
New Delhi, Apr 4 (PTI) Sudan and South Sudan have assured India that its over USD 2.5 billion oil assets in those countries were safe and will not be affected by the ongoing "skirmishes" between the two over oil and territorial issues. This was conveyed by the leaderships of both in Khartoum, capital of Sudan and Juba, capital of South Sudan to Amarendra Khatua, India's Special Envoy and Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, during his visit there last week, government sources said today. Terming the ongoing "skirmishes" as "matter of great concern", the sources said the move to send the special envoy was necessitated to seek assurance from the two Sudans for India's oil interests, communicate India's support for the peace initiative and strengthening the ties. The conflict between the two Sudans escalated last month when South Sudan, which came into existence last year, shut down its entire oil production to retaliate against Sudan which has most of the energy processing infrastructure. This also led to a loss of USD 0.4 million per day to the project, the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co., run jointly by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), the overseas arm of India's state-owned oil major. China and Malaysia are also parties to this project. South Sudan has the largest oil reserve in Africa after Angola and has got 85 per cent of the oil fields of the undivided country. However, in the absence of any processing facility, it is seeking help from India and others to build pipelines and refineries.