Lupin Starts R & D Facility At Nande, Focus On Nces

Lupin has begun operations at its 1,50,000 square feet research facility at Nande, off the Mumbai-Bangalore highway, close to Pune.

This facility will primarily concentrate on research in discovery of new chemical entities (NCEs) for anti-tubercular and anti-infectives, development of herbal formulations for therapeutic indications, process chemistry for generic molecules and development of new drug delivery systems (NDDS) specifically for oral dosages. The institute will also scan natural products for lead compounds.

With a team consisting of 150 scientists at the outset, Lupin has spent Rs 37 crore on this research park along with transferring equipment and instruments worth Rs 20 crore from other research locations. The company plans to deploy around 250 scientists eventually.

"The objective," the company release says, "is to bring all the diverse research programmes conducted in multiple and scattered locations under one roof which is expected to provide greater synergy between all disciplines and improve the level of innovations and speedy progress of research targets."

Lupin has formed a number of collaborations for this project. It has a tie-up with an Italian university. It is also participating in a DST (Department of science and technology) programme with IICT-Hyderabad, NCL-Pune, IISc-Bangalore. The company is also a participant in the "New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI)" programme funded by the Government of India for the NCEs and new biological targets in the anti-infectives segment.

Lupin has plans for licensing at least 2 new products in the next 12 months. In NDDS, the dominant area would be cephalosporins while in the NCE category, the therapeutic areas would be neurology, asthma, dermatology and tuberculosis (TB).

The company is also present in neutraceuticals, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), cardiovascular, dermatology, anti-viral besides anti-tuberculosis and cephalosporins.

In new segments for the domestic market, the company is looking at gastroenterology, diabetes, asthma, and paediatric.