Pharma majors queue up for space at Hyderabad’s Genome Valley

HYDERABAD: In what could provide muchneeded fillip to an ailing economy, big-ticket pharmaceutical firms are queuing up to expand their footprint in Hyderabad’s Genome Valley (GV) — India’s leading life sciences cluster. On this list are city-based major Laurus Labs, touted to be a world leader in supply of anti-retroviral APIs and intermediates, and Syngene International, a subsidiary of the country’s largest biopharmaceutical company, Biocon.
Industry sources say there are more names on this coveted list, with firms from NCR and Ahmedabad too, eyeing space in GV.“There are at least five companies whose proposals are in the pipeline. Each of them is hoping to between 10 acres and 50 acres,” said a source in the know of things.

The market value of land at GV — roughly 20km from the city centre — is roughly Rs2.5 crore per acre.
“We are exploring the possibility of expanding operations there... However, nothing has been finalised just yet,” said Satyanarayana Chava, founder and CEO of Laurus, which already has a research and development centre at GV. The cluster is best known for shipping out at least onethird of the world’s demand for vaccines among children.
A senior official at Biocon, too, confirmed that “discussions” were underway with “authorities concerned” about increasing its presence in GV. “At this stage, I am not in a position to share any further details, but talks are on in this regard,” the official said. Sources confirmed that the proposed investment was on behalf of Syngene, which recently opened doors to its R&D facility at GV. It is reportedly the company’s first such facility outside Bengaluru.
“Several companies are lining up in GV to leverage the research and manufacturing ecosystem offered in the cluster. Apart from existing companies looking for expansion spaces, there are new entrants too,” said Vishal Goel, partner, Cerestra Advisors, the firm that has been facilitating several deals. He said, “The demand is from biotech companies given the talent pool available here... due to restrictions on travel, many firms are using drones for site visits.”
While refraining from sharing details about upcoming projects as things are at a “nascent stage”, Telangana’s IT secretary, Jayesh Ranjan, did stress the potential GV holds. “The cluster offers a great eco-system for growth. Also, the Covid-19 pandemic has given a push to companies developing vaccines and other biologicals. We will be happy to house more such firms within Genome Valley,” he said.