New Delhi, July 26: In a bid to give biotech research a big push, the pharma major Nicholas Piramal Ltd has entered into an alliance with the Centre for Biochemical Technology for foraying into genome research. The company has initiated plans to spend close to Rs 100 crore over the next five years for setting up research centres.Nicholas Piramal will be floating a new research subsidiary which will take up biotech research activities through its two research centres, one in Mumbai and another in Delhi at CBT's laboratory.
The new research and development subsidiary will also be entitled for a 10-year tax holiday, which the government announced some time back.
"We are seriously looking at foraying into the pharmacogenomics for which the technical support would be provided by CBT. Genomics constitute a new areas with diverse applications," Nicholas Piramal's Chief scientific officer and director, Swati Piramal told The Financial Express. The agreement between the the two entities was signed on Wednesday, she said.
Nicholas Piramal and CBT will work together in the field of DNA diagnostics genome research, she said.
"The company already has a similar alliance with Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow and we are looking at similar alliances with other laboratories for research and development activities.
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