An additional 1500 sq ft of lab space has been added to Kemwell Biopharma’s facility in Bangalore, India in response to a contract with a multinational pharma company which could not be named due to reasons of confidentiality.
Karan Bagaria, VP Corporate Development at Kemwell, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com this “FTE contract is for a large global innovator pharmaceutical company (Top 10), with sites in the USA, Europe, Asia and India” and will “cover multiple projects and provide Analytical support to the customers R&D sites, worldwide.”
The various projects include Kemwell providing method transfer, stability sample analyses and analytical method validation for the client, and has led to the employment of 15 new scientists and investment in a new ultra performance liquid chromatography system and 9 new dissolution baths.
Though the extra capability is dedicated to service this contract and tailored to the client’s needs, Bagaria said Kemwell is currently “in discussion with other customers to provide similar analytical, as well as dedicated Formulations Development FTE programs.”
This latest investment in Bangalore follows completion last year of a 7,500 sq ft cGMP pilot plant to complement its manufacturing and R&D offerings, and more recently Kemwell has completed a biologics facility with API and Fill/Finish capabilities also in Bangalore.
As well as Bangalore, Kemwell has a manufacturing site in Uppala, Sweden – acquired from Pfizer in 2006 - that won a contract last December to produce drug products for Mercury Pharma.
According to Bagaria, recent activity is part of kemwell’s strategy to actively pursue “growth in its development services offering, and [Kemwell] will be looking to expand globally with a USA-based Pharmaceutical R&D facility in the near future.”