German Consortium enters R

Kolkata, Apr 11: A German consortium is planning to enter into Research and Development agreement with East India Pharmaceuticals, one of the oldest pharma company in India, to outsource R&D work.

Speaking to UNI over telephone here today, German Federation Director Rajesh Nath said, ''The consortium, consisting of bio-tech and pharma companies, is currently raising funds from the European Union and will soon decide on the amount of investment in this project.'' There are two options--the consortium may open a R&D hub on their own or joint venture with EIP or they might &xD;outsource research and development work from the company, Mr Nath said.

The German consortium had recently visited Kolkata, along with other metros, in March. The delegation visited East India Pharma in February and visited the factory in the city.

EIP now has three manufacturing units in the city and employs a workforce of 1500 employees. It has separate manufacturing and research departments.

UNI