Eisai blueprints new R&D center in India

Eisai is blueprinting its first drug R&D center outside of Japan, with plans to invest $50 million in a new venture in India which will recruit 100 people to develop new therapeutics for the global market. The research staff--which will focus on formulation development---will include about 20 scientists, according to a report in India's Financial Express.

"The formulation development R&D wing is expected to go commercial next year," Eisai Knowledge Centre president Sanjit Singh Lamba told the Financial Express.

Like a number of Japanese pharma companies, Eisai has been spreading its wings to diversify beyond its home country. An India, which is expected to see its pharma industry triple in size over the next decade, has become one of the prime candidates for expansion. Eisai's scientists will focus on new drugs that can be sold in India as well as other countries, Bloomberg reports, helping enhance the subcontinent's rep in drug development circles.

- read the story from the Financial Express
- here's the report from Bloomberg