Magene in talks with 3 pharma majors

Magene Life Sciences, a city-based biotechnology company, is in final talks with three Indian major pharmaceutical companies for providing biological services related to molecule testing.

"We are likely to sign agreements with these three companies by end of February. We are expecting to test 15 to 20 molecules per month for these three companies," Gita Sharma, a director and the chief scientific officer of Magene, said at a press conference today.

The 18-month-old company has also initiated research and development of innovative technology for protein therapeutics. It already has two such proteins on pilot scale and one each in laboratory and cloning stages.

"We are expecting to go for preclinical (animal testing) studies for the two proteins by March before which we expect to get regulatory approvals," Sharma said.

"Our intention is to bring into the country some of the proteins that are going off-patent in the next one to two years," she added.

The company has so far invested Rs 7 crore on setting up a laboratory in the Genome Valley. It launched a corporate learning programme in biotechnology on Monday.

Thetraining consists of three different modules - basic, advanced and corporate learning, with different fee structures ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000.