Wyeth, GVK project to kick off

The joint drug-discovery project of multinational pharma firm Wyeth and GVK Biosciences will fully take off within a month's time, following the establishment of a dedicated discovery chemistry research laboratory, which will house around 150 Wyeth scientists.

At present, about 50 scientists are working for Wyeth at GVK Biosciences and these scientists will move into the new facility.

The partners would soon add another 100 scientists to work on the process and analytical services as a part of the drug discovery programme, said Michael Kolb, vice-president, chemical development, Wyeth Research and Vikas Vij, general manager, GVK Bio, on the sidelines of a pharmaceutical conference organised by research agency Frost & Sullivan in Goa.

The five-year deal, reported to be worth $40 million, was announced in January 2006.

It was one of the first drug-discovery outsourcing deals from a multinational pharmaceutical company for the Indian contract research organisations (CROs).

GVK Bio is a joint venture between the GVK business group of Hyderabad and Dr D S Brar, former managing director and chief executive officer of Ranbaxy Laboratories.

However, the GVK official declined to comment on the financials involved in the deal and the investment on setting up the new facility.

Michael Kolb said Wyeth would increasingly partner with Indian companies in the field of outsourcing intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

"In the field of drug research, our association with GVK Bio will continue in future. We are also discussing with companies such as Shasun for custom synthesis and manufacturing. We view India as a major supplier base for our international manufacturing operations," he said.

The US-based Wyeth, one of the top drug manufacturer in the world, had sales revenues of $ 20.4 billion in 2006.