Veeda CR plans new unit, to invest Rs 50 cr

After opening India's first clinical pharmacology unit (CPU) for renal patients, Ahmedabad-based Veeda Clinical Research has plans to set up of its new unit near SG Highway and acquire a small or mid-size company in the US. It will invest about Rs 50 crore in the coming few months for its expansion plan.

The company now has units in Ahmedabad, UK, Belgium and Germany. The new unit will have 64 non-monitored beds and 24 monitored beds. Like other units, the second Ahmedabad unit will deal with Phase 1 trials. Phase 1 clinical trials involve testing of new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range and identify side effects.

"Phase I clinical trails account for 60 per cent of our revenues. The growth in Phase I clinical trials is due to increasing food, drug and QTc studies across the world," said Apurva Shah, Veeda Clinical Research group managing director. Bio-markers and Bio-Metrics are other revenue earning sectors

The company made three acquisitions in as many years and is on the lookout for buying a company in the US. "We have looked at a few companies with 50-100 bed capacity coming in the US $ 10 to 20 million bracket. We hope to close a deal in one-and-half years," said Shah.

The company last year hived off a minority stake to a private equity player for around Rs 50 crore, he said explaining that the company was not looking at more funding immediately.

Veeda's Bio-Marker facility, started a year back, is also set to double its capacity. It took up over 400 Phase I studies so far.

In 2007, the company acquired DICE, a CRO based in Belgium and following this it entered new biopharmaceutical markets and delivered services from its sites in UK and India.