Panacea Biotech to open 3 R

New Delhi, May 22 (UNI) In a bid to strenghten its R and D operations, Panacea Biotech Ltd (PBL) today announced setting up of three more research plants in the country, at a cost of Rs 60 crore funded mainly by the proceeds received from its FCCB issue, which concluded in February this year.

''Focussing on specific areas for research and developmental activities, we have decided to set up three more R and D centres at Mohali, Delhi and Mumbai. We will spend about 20 crore each on the first two projects and slightly more than 20 crore on the Mumbai project,'' PBL Director (Operations and Projects) Sumit Jain told reporters here.

The core research area for the Mohali centre will be discovery of new drugs, while the Delhi unit will develop bio-pharmaceuticals.

The focus of the Mumbai centre will be towards developing advanced drug delivery system and is expected to be operational by August this year.

PBL, at present, has four research centres with over 200 scientists and spent around 5 per cent of its turnover, around 28 crore, during 2005-06 on research activities.

Mr Jain said PBL is also in the process of acquiring firms and exporting its products to developed markets like EU, to hasten its presence in those markets.

''We are looking to export our products in a big way, but would not get into marketing and distribution. We are waiting for approval from the Brazilian authorities,'' Mr Jain said.

He also added that the company is in the process of acquiring Brazil firms and expected deals to materialise in July or August this year.

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