New Delhi Pfizer Inc on Wednesday opened a global research center in Chennai that will develop and support drugs for the drugmaker’s manufacturing centers around the world. The facility, located at the Indian Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Madras Research Park, is Pfizer’s first such center in Asia and will employ over 250 scientists and technicians of various specialties.
The Chennai center will develop active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), ready-to-use dosage forms (FDFs) such as complex/value-added formulations, controlled-release dosage forms, device-assembly products, lyophilized injections, powder-filled products, and ready-to-use -use formulations, Pfizer said. The 61,000-square-foot center, built for $20 million, will be part of a network of 12 Pfizer global centers.
“We are confident that Pfizer’s Drug Development Center at IIT Madras Research Park will allow co-development of state-of-the-art API and FDF processes under one roof. Pfizer India’s country manager S. “The world-class scientific, technology and innovation driven Research Park campus provides an ideal setting for our work,” Sridhar said.
Sridhar said the center will initially focus on generic products and later on oncology, immunology and internal medicine.
The center integrates two essential functions under Pfizer’s export-oriented venture: the Pharma Sciences (Pharmacy) and the Global Technology and Engineering (GT&E) Center of Excellence. PharmSci is dedicated to developing anti-infectives, oncolytics, sterile injection, anesthesia and hospital products, while GT&E is a leader in next-generation API process and manufacturing technology to supply drugs to patients around the world.
“There is an increasing need for pharma firms to provide innovative solutions that can address the new challenges facing healthcare providers and patients. This new center from Pfizer is a step in that direction. Such efforts to strengthen and expand global work through this center will allow for knowledge sharing that we hope will improve patient outcomes in the years to come,” S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, said at the event. .
IIT Madras Research Park President Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala said that Pfizer’s access to the new center will benefit the academicians of the institute.