Laurus Labs to invest Rs 200 cr

Two new manufacturing facilities would be set up near Visakhapatnam to take total capacity to 1.4 mn litres from the present 800,000 litre

City-based Laurus Labs, which specialises in manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for AIDS and oncology drugs, is planning to invest Rs 200 crore in the next 18 months for capacity expansion.

Company's founder and chief executive officer Satyanarayana Chava on Tuesday said two new manufacturing facilities would be set up in addition to the existing one near Visakhapatnam to take the total capacity to 1.4 million litres from the present 800,000 litre. The expansion would be funded through internal resources.

It may be recalled Fidelity Growth Partners India had invested Rs 200 crore in Laurus last year by way of acquiring the stake of Uptuit Inc, a US-based contract R&D services provider with which the company had a partnership.

Set up in 2006, Laurus was into only R&D for the first couple of years. It achieved revenues of Rs 720 crore last year, according to its founder. The company makes 50 per cent supplies to large Indian companies, including Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's Laboratories, and the rest to companies in Europe, North America and Africa. It also has plans to expand into making APIs for products targeting diabetes.

The former chief operating officer of erstwhile Matrix Laboratories said even being an API player, the company enjoyed high margins on the back of in-house R&D and process technology. Of its 1,100 employees, 600 are deployed in R&D.

ISB, Laurus partner to start course on technology commercialisation

The Indian School of Business (ISB) is launching an education programme on technology commercialisation for scientists and R&D professionals starting next month. The initiative is targeted at equipping them with knowledge on how to put technology and innovation to commercial use through entrepreneurship development and other modes.

The launch of the course also marks the single largest individual alumni grant of Rs 30 lakh from Satyanarayana Chava, CEO of Laurus Labs, a city-based API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) manufacturing and R&D company. It would be used to partly fund up to 25 candidates in the fist batch.

ISB deputy dean Deepak Chandra said there was a knowledge gap among scientists in taking technology to the market. The institute had been receiving response from scientists and research professionals from various backgrounds, including agriculture, IT and pharma sectors besides government establishments like the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The programme, a first-of its-kind, is divided into four phases starting with providing academic inputs on business acumen followed by development of business plan and metering. It is also open to providing incubation and funding tie-ups to technology and intellectual property owned by these candidates, according to him.

Chava said as a scientist-turned-entrepreneur heading a company with focus on research and innovation it would be a rightful cause in helping others tread the same path through this partnership.