From correspondents in Andhra Pradesh, India, 11:00 AM IST

Global bio-pharmaceutical giant, Switzerland-based Lonza, today announced to invest USD 150 million (Rs 750 crores, approx.) for two major projects inGenomeValleylocated at the outskirts of Hyderabad. Lonza Group (SWX: LONN) is a 100-year-old USD 2.5 billion Swiss chemical and biotechnology company based at Basel.

Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, Mr. BP Acharya, announced the investment during the India Evening session held at India Pavilion at the international biotech conference BIO inAtlanta,USA.

Concurrent with this announcement, Mr. Acharya released copies of the allotment letters issued to M/s Lonza in the Genome Valley SEZ and Phase II Biotech Park for R&D and bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.

“This is one of the largest investments in recent times in the bio-pharmaceutical sector inIndiaand marks the emergence ofIndia, in general, andGenomeValley, in particular, as a preferred destination for global bio-pharmaceutical companies,” said Mr. Acharya.

“This is an achievement of Bio Asia, the global bio-business forum, andGenomeValleyto draw such companies as Lonza toHyderabad. The ultimate motive of Bio Asia is knowledge sharing and business development. We are committed to such developments and hope that we will be able to strike such chords of success in Bio Asia 2010,” said Dr. BS Bajaj, Secretary General, FABA. Dr. Bajaj announced the launch of Bio Asia 2010 to be held atHyderabadfrom February 3rdto February 6th2010. The brochure and CD for Bio Asia 2010 were released by Mrs. Banashri Bose Harrison, Minister (Commerce), Embassy of India, US. Mr. S. Suryanarayana, Director General, ABLE; Dr. S. Langer, Director Biotechnology ofJohns Hopkins University,USA; were among the others present at the occasion.

Mr. Stefen Borgas, CEO of Lonza, had visitedGenomeValleyduring Bio Asia 2009. Mr. Borgas was impressed by the talent pool, scientific culture and the infrastructure facilities available at theGenomeValley– the first world-class biotechnology cluster inIndia. “I think the Indian industry is positioned very well, having built up a significant pool of scientists servicing the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry,” Mr. Borgas had said.

Lonza has chalked out the development of its facility in two phases as enumerated below:

Phase I (Operational 2011 to 2013):

• R&D labs for 100+ staff. Facility for tissue/cell isolation, cell culture and expression techniques, bio services, labs for biologics and bioinformatics.
• Microbiological application labs and formulation development for microbial control for injectables.
• Small-scale multi-purpose manufacturing plant for biopharmaceuticals.
• Small-scale bio-therapeutic media manufacturing plant.

Phase II (Operational 2014 to 2015):

• Expanded media manufacturing capacity for bio-therapeutic media.
• Additional R&D lab capacity for biologics (200 people approx.).
• Expanded large-scale manufacturing plant for biopharmaceuticals.
• Additional support functions.
  

Source: Press Release Distribution via India PRwire