Minister for industries KT Rama Rao today unveiled several new projects in Genome Valley to the tune of Rupees 800 Crores. The new projects are of varied nature, viz. biosimilars manufacturing, advanced pharma and biotech R&D, formulation manufacturing and integrated turnkey lab spaces for high-tech research, signifying the large breadth of capabilities present in Genome Valley, which has emerged as Asia’s largest high innovation and life sciences cluster.
Hyderabad based GeneSys Biologics, a specialty biotech company engaged in R&D of advanced biosimilars also announced the inauguration of their state-of-the-art biotechnology manufacturing facility in Genome Valley. With capabilities of integrated drug development for Insulin/Insulin Analogues biosimilars from R&D to commercial manufacturing, the company has achieved a remarkable feat by building a pipeline of 6 insulin biosimilars molecules within a short period of 3 years. Cumulative global sales of such molecules is estimated to be more than US$ 30 billion.
Minister congratulated the entire GeneSys team on their achievement and quoted “Biosimilars are expected to be the next big growth segment within the biopharma industry due to their enhanced capabilities in healthcare and patient safety. Given the extraordinary strengths of Telangana in vaccines and pharmaceuticals, we have taken various initiatives focussed on accelerating biologics and biosimilars development as part of the Genome Valley 2.0 Vision.
I am thrilled to see companies like Genesys Biologics pursuing this opportunity aggressively.” GeneSys plans to deploy around INR 350 Crores overall in their facility which will see a 10 to 20 fold increase in their output and lead to large scale direct employment opportunities for the highly skilled workforce.
In another major boost to the Genome Valley cluster, the fastest growing Canadian generic drug manufacturer (40% annual growth) JAMP Pharma will be setting up its biggest center of excellence for R&D and manufacturing of export quality drug formulations and will invest around INR 250 Crores with generation of 2,000 direct jobs over the next 24 months.
Among other launches were Laxai Life Sciences, a Genome Valley based custom biotech and pharma R&D also inaugurated its new 50,000 square feet facility in Genome Valley with state-of-the-art German R&D infrastructure, which will cater to development of novel small molecules, biologics and custom pharma services for US and European companies.
The company to its credit has already delivered 4 clinical candidates to the U.S and European markets in the areas of oncology, cardiology, CNS and metabolic disorders. Also, the foundation stone was laid for Touchstone Square, an integrated and collaborative R&D park through proposed investment of INR 150 Crores. The park will feature a built up area of over 270,000 square feet spread across turnkey labspaces, incubation facilities, specialised offices, pilot plant spaces for life sciences R&D and high innovation activities.
Minister also briefed the scientific and entrepreneurial diaspora present at the venue about the State Government’s Vision of Genome Valley 2.0. Surbana Jurong, Singapore (planners for world class clusters like Biopolis, One North Cluster) have been engaged to develop an integrated regional masterplan for Genome Valley.
