AstraZeneca keen to invest in Indian biotech, pharma

Sanjay Sardana

New Delhi, Dec 3: AstraZeneca Pharma India, the Indian subsidiary of $15 billion AstraZeneca AB of Sweden is interested to invest in smaller pharma and biotech companies as a venture capitalist, which offer some security on their intellectual property.

AstraZeneca’s Indian arm is also looking at clinical research in India for global usage and has also been approached by a number of Indian pharma companies for contract research as a contract research organisation.

Speaking to The Financial Express, the Indian arm managing director Lars Walan said a number of Indian companies had approached AstraZeneca for alliances. Mr Walan, however, declined to reveal the names of Indian companies.

AstraZeneca has already become one of the few multinational pharmaceutical companies to have set up a discovery research facilities in India for world wide commercialisation of molecule. In India there are a number of companies looking for venture capitalists and seeking funds. AstraZeneca is looking at companies with expertise in risk business.

‘‘We are keen to have much more collaborations in India and are looking at investment options. The model is also followed currently by the parent company worldwide,” Mr Walan said.

“The tuberculosis drug being developed by AstraZeneca in the Indian research facilities will be meant for the developing countries, which account for almost 70-80 per cent of the worldwide market,” Mr Walan added. “We have a state-of-the-art facility and a discovery research laboratory in Bangalore with an investment of $10 million and plans to invest $5 million per annum for discovery research and development activities. The discovery research employs around 80 people including research scientists,” Mr Walan said.

AstraZeneca has initiated discovery on new molecule for tuberculosis with a biotechnology sort of unit in Bangalore. “We have been working for quite some time on infectious diseases and we are now working on tuberculosis,” he said. Apart from these investments in research activities, the company has put on hold any major investments because of the intellectual property concerns in India.