Hyderabad-based drugs maker Aurobindo Pharma Limited (APL) has launched AuroSource, its new division for providing custom research and manufacturing services (Crams) for large, mid-sized and emerging biotech and pharmaceutical entities globally.
According to APL chairman PV Ramprasad Reddy, AuroSource will partner with biotech and pharma companies and cultivate opportunities to research, manufacture and develop compounds across the entire drug life cycle.
AuroSource research and development facility is being set up at a cost of Rs 75-100 crore over an extent of 25 acres at Pashamylaram, near here. The 500,000 sft facility will house about 150 scientists and provide the complete breadth of Crams, Reddy told mediapersons here on Thursday.
“AuroSource is uniquely positioned to smoothly transition our competence in drug development to customers within this market segment. We stand to become an invaluable partner in enabling them to streamline and simplify their development and manufacturing processes,” he said, adding APL was already into Crams business in a small way.
Stating that the impending reforms in the US healthcare market have exposed the need for Crams, Reddy said the AuroSource team, organised from APL, had commercialised more than 200 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and 120 finished drug products, which sets the stage for a successful contract service provider.
He said expansion plans were also afoot to start offering services in the fields of medicinal chemistry and other discovery services. A programme management cell would be set up at AuroSource to address the needs of its customers.
AuroSource president, R Ananth, said though the combined annual growth rate of the Crams market in the country was 40 per cent, India still accounted for less than 5 per cent of the global Crams business.
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Consequently, there was a huge potential for Crams business, particularly as pharma innovators were still trimming R&D budgets, rationalising product pipeline, consolidating and restructuring.
Ananth said AuroSource was poised to deliver Crams for APIs, intermediaries, pre-formulations and formulations across each stage of the pharmaceutical life cycle. It would also provide regulatory research and development expertise and solutions for product life cycle management.
The Rs 4,000-crore APL manufactures generic pharmaceuticals and APIs. It has over 650 scientists and 35 subsidiaries outside India.