AP govt to set up 'Discovery City' for pharma sector

The government has earmarked 587.37 acres of land besides the Apparel Park at Gundlapochampally which would be developed by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation(APIIC) in association with a private developer, according to government officials.

With the new patents regime coming into effect from January 2005, the local drug and pharmaceutical companies, which hitherto built their business on process patenting, have now been looking at other opportunities such as contract research, contract manufacturing apart from discovering new drug molecules.

With Andhra Pradesh being a prominent player in the country's drug and pharma industries, the state government has been considering to play a proactive role to facilitate drug research to enable the local industry to withstand the new challenges and gain out of the fresh opportunities coming in the form of outsourcing in drug research and clinical trials.

"The proposed 'Discovery City' will meet the future requirements of the drug companies not only from our own state but also multi nationals to establish their research facilities in Hyderabad," a government official told Business Standard.