Advinus opens drug facility in Pune

Advinus Therapeutics, a joint venture between the Tata Group and ex-Ranbaxy research head Rashmi Barbhaiya, today inaugurated a drug discovery facility at Pune, where it hopes to scale up workforce to 550 employees by 2010.

"At Advinus, we will focus on creating cutting-edge research facilities with an estimated workforce of 550 employees by 2010, comprising of some of the best available talent from across the globe. It is a great privilege for me and every employee of Advinus to be promoted by a reputed group like Tata," said Rashmi Barbhaiya, chief executive officer and managing director, Advinus.

Advinus Therapeutics would undertake novel drug discovery, generating intellectual property primarily in the area of metabolic diseases and inflammation, a company release said.

Currently, the facility has 55 scientists and has automated equipment.