The 14,000 sqft centre, in the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar special economic zone (SEZ), will provide clinical data management, pharmacovigilance and biostatistics services to sponsors running trials in the region.
Kendle has had a presence in India since 2004 with its unit in New Delhi and has been expanding to allow its clients increased access to the nation’s favourable research conditions.
COO Stephen Cutler said that: "Growth in India is a key component of our strategy and will be very important to the future" adding that an "expanded presence in Asia, and in India in particular, creates efficiencies in the clinical development process.”
In an interview in the Business Standard Cutler contrasted India with Asia’s other contract research hotbed China, explaining that “India's edge… lies in its favourable regulatory environment and research initiatives as well as investor-friendly duty structure.”
The new unit will begin operations with a staff of fifty although Kendle plans to scale up this up in the next few years, benefiting from the units “proximity to multiple universities” in and around Ahmedabad.
This expansion, according to company senior director of South East Asia operations Bharat Doshi, is likely to require “would require around 84,000 square feet of space to house around 300 associates.”
SEZ benefits
Aside from access to large population centres and proximity to a number of pharmaceutical manufacturers the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar also provides Kendle with others benefits due to its status as an SEZ.
Operating in an SEZ gives contract research organisations (CROs) like Kendle, and GVK Biosciences who set up there in March, staged tax benefits, including a five year 100 per cent exemption on export income.