While the initial focus of the Hyderabad-based facility will be on oncology models, the company says it is currently in the process of configuring the acquired space to meet its biosecurity and production requirements.
Joe Meyer, VP of global commercial operations, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that the facility will be “similar to the site in California” and will include immunodeficient mice for oncology and immunology Phase I research.
The new facility will provide research models strictly to the Indian market, which the company has worked in for 10 years. Shipments from the facility will begin in 2014 and Meyer said the company is looking to expand further in Hyderabad in the future.
The preclinical contract research organisation (CRO) already holds a significant share of the local market according to global VP of business development, Stuart Frith, who said: "Harlan supplies research models to more than 60 percent of the Indian research market and has a large concentration of customers in the Hyderabad-Bangalore region."
Protests
Preclinical research services organisations often face criticism from animal rights groups and Harlan is no different.
Alka Chandna, senior laboratory oversight specialist at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that: “Any expansion of Harlan anywhere in the world is concerning news" citing an 1999 investigation of a beagle breeding facility in the UK in her criticism of the firm's practices.
Harlan in Europe, US and Korea
The announcement of the facility in India comes as Harlan has expanded its presence throughout Europe, twice, as well as doubled its number of isolators in the US.
The company also made a recent move into Asia with its appointment of Kwan Good Edmond Cho as president of Harlan Korea.
Cho earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Seoul National University and previously served as director of market access and business development for Zuellig Pharma Korea, an $8B subsidiary of the Zuellig Group. He also served in the Special Forces of the Korean Army.