Chemveda Life Sciences has announced a Rs 150 crore investment to expand its presence in Hyderabad.
Telangana’s Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who is on a visit to the United States, met with the company executives in San Diego on Monday. Chemveda Life Sciences is a mid-sized contract research organization based in Hyderabad and San Diego that provides solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agrochemical industries, as well as academia.
Chemveda Life Sciences has grown from 45 employees in 2017 to over 450 employees in the last five years, with two R&D sites, an area of over 65,000 sq ft and a manufacturing facility expanded all over eight acres.
It will invest an additional Rs 150 crore to build a cutting-edge R&D facility in Hyderabad, employing 500 additional scientists. It has already received Rs 90 crore in funding, with another Rs 60 crore committed. The company announced the addition of a GMP facility with a capacity of 200 KL.
K.T Rama Rao expressed his delight at seeing the industry benefit from Hyderabad’s active research ecosystem, progressive government policies, and abundant talent pool.
Dr. Bheema Rao Paraselli, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, stated that the company decided to invest more in Telangana because of its industry-friendly policies. He stated that the company already has a presence in Hyderabad and sees a lot of future growth opportunities in the city due to the growing life sciences industry.
The proposed Hyderabad R&D centre will be approximately 200,000 square feet in size and will employ approximately 500 scientists. The company has already received Rs 90 crore (approximately $ 12 million) in funding, with another Rs 60 crore (approximately $ 8 million) committed. The company announced the addition of a GMP facility with a capacity of 200 KL.
Rama Rao also paid a visit to Scripps Research Campus. Dr. James Williamson (EVP Research and Academic Affairs), Mary Wang (Director, Strategic Planning), Dr. Arnab Chatterjee (VP, Medicinal Chemistry), Calibr-Scripps Research, and Prof Sumit Chanda were among those he met.
Scripps Research employs over 200 scientists and personnel in over 200 laboratories, making it the largest private, non-profit biomedical research organization in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The institute has five Nobel Laureates, well almost 1,100 patents, ten FDA-approved therapeutics, and over 50 spin-off companies.
Rama Rao proposed a collaboration between the Telangana government and Scripps Institute for the upcoming Pharma University in Hyderabad Pharma City. Curriculum design, faculty/student exchange, joint research, joint degree programs, and other activities are included in the scope.
During the meeting, it was proposed to form a working group with the Scripps Research team in order to collaborate and learn from Scripps’ success story. The meeting was attended by Telangana IT and Industries Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Life Sciences Director Shakti Nagappan, according to a press release.
