Switzerland's Lonza is making a $150 million investment in Genome Valley, an area outside Hyderabad. Lonza CEO Stefen Borgas said the company was attracted to Genome Valley by the talent pool, scientific culture and the infrastructure facilities.
Lonza's investment will take place in two phases. Phase I of the operation (from 2011 to 2013) will see the development of R&D labs for over 100 Lonza workers. It will include a facility for tissue/cell isolation, cell culture and expression techniques, bio services, labs for biologics and bioinformatics, among other manufacturing capabilities. Phase II of Lonza's project (from 2014 to 2015) will include expanded manufacturing capabilities and additional R&D lab capacity for biologics. Two hundred more workers will be employed at the site.
"This is one of the largest investments in recent times in the biopharmaceutical sector in India and marks the emergence of India, in general, and Genome Valley, in particular, as a preferred destination for global biopharmaceutical companies,"said B. P. Acharya, chairman and managing director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Corporation in a statement.
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