Pall Corporation has inaugurated its newest Life Sciences Centre of Excellence in Bangalore, India, which is intended to drive innovations in global life sciences processes throughout Asia.
The new center includes a state-of-the-art proteomics laboratory to help customers speed the drug discovery process. It also houses a validation laboratory and a training facility with specialty experts to support Indian and regional customers as they enter the highly regulated drug export market. Pall says India was strategically chosen as the location for the Centre of Excellence in Asia “because of the country’s highly regarded reputation in life sciences.”
The company says the center will provide the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and discovery markets throughout the region with a full range of total fluid management solutions to help them achieve their goals. Led by a specialized team of professionals, the new facility joins other Pall Life Sciences Centres of Excellence throughout Europe and the Western Hemisphere in bringing together the latest technologies with process optimization knowledge and expertise.
Pall Life Sciences is also expanding its customer technical support system with the center’s opening. Customers worldwide will have immediate access to Pall scientists and technical experts. “The success of our customers depends on their ability to carry out all stages of drug development-research, discovery, and full-scale production-efficiently and cost-effectively,” says Vinay Joban, general manager, Pall BioPharmaceuticals India. “The new center provides the region with a complete range of services to support their operations from upstream through downstream while also facilitating their ability to comply with increasingly rigorous global requirements.”
The biopharmaceutical industry throughout Asia is experiencing a major surge in activity. The Indian pharmaceutical industry reportedly ranks fourth in terms of volume. According to Opportunities in Indian Pharma Sector (July 2006), India accounts for US$6 billion of the $550 billion global pharmaceutical industry, an annual increase of 10 percent compared with the 7 percent annual growth of the overall world market. The Indian biotechnology market is also growing, supported by the government’s comprehensive national biotechnology policy. Indian Biotechnology Market Outlook (February 2007) reports that the Indian biotechnology industry has grown 28.09 percent from 2005, and is likely to touch the $5 billion mark by the end of 2010.