ABL launches R

Chennai, Jan 4: ABL Biotechnologies, a city-based listed company, will launch a new R&D facility at Ticel Biopark in the city with total investment of around Rs 25 crore.

Announcing this at a press conference here today, company Chairman and Managing Director K O Isaac said the 10,000 sq ft facility would focus on natural products, nutraceuticals, therapeutics, microbial research and drug discovery.

Union Science and Technology Secretary T Ramasamy would inaugurate the facility on January eight.

The R&D set up with BSL II facilities was the the only one in its domain to receive recognition and accreditation from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, he said.

The company harnesses the microbial diversity of the Indian marine environment for applications in nutritional, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and industrial intermediates.

Mr Isaac said the company over the last few years had evolved into a product development and manufacturing company that serviced a large segment of the Indian pharmaceutical industry with unique formulations developed in-house.

The company's R&D efforts were centred around the enormous potential of Indian biodiversity for the production of new tools to both fight as well as prevent disease, he added.

Stating that ABL Biotechnologies had set up the largest marine microbial culture collection and compound library in India, which formed the basis of its bioactive and drug development programmes, Mr Isaac said the company had also created infrastructure for production of metabolites from phototrophic organisms at its Tiruchendur plant.

During its process of concentric diversification, the company had set up three divisions viz Spectrum - for producing finished formulations for the pharma industry, Invia Health - for marketing its own therapeutics and Sanctum Nutrition - focused on the FMHG segment.

UNI