Tatas mull entry into biotech, drug R&D

Tata declined to comment on whether the group will be re-entering the pharma industry.

The Tata group is considering an entry into the areas of bio-tech applications in the pharmaceutical industry and drug research.

Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata told Business Standard in an interview, "In the areas of bio-tech applications in the pharmaceuticals industry and in the area of drug research, there is considerable opportunity for us which we are indeed looking at today."

Asked whether the group would be re-entering the pharmaceuticals industry, Tata replied: "I think at this point in time I would like to reserve comment on that."

Earlier in the interview, Tata was asked whether he regretted the group having exited the textiles and pharmaceuticals industries.

"I don't regret (exiting) the textile industry because I don't think we could have carried through the period that companies went through. Pharmaceuticals I do regret "" I feel pharmaceuticals was an area that we exited too quickly," he said.

The Tata group sold Merind Ltd and Tata Pharma, a Merind subsidiary, to Wockhardt in the late 1990s. It also exited Searle, a joint venture between the Tata group's Rallis India and GD Shaw.

In the biotechnology field, Tata Industries now has a small stake in the Bangalore-based Avestha Gengraine, a biotech firm founded by Villoo Morawala Patell. Rallis was also planning a foray into biotechnology but shelved the plan.

Tata Consultancy Services has a life sciences and health care practice.

In life sciences, it provides IT solutions in the area of clinical trials and US FDA compliance requirements, while in health care, it provides hospital management solutions.