Tata-promoted Advinus starts R&D unit in Pune
Business Standard — August 4, 2006

Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, today inaugurated the state-of-the-art drug discovery facility of Advinus Therapeutics at a function held in Pune. Advinus Therapeutics is the drug discovery and development company promoted by the Tata group with Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya.

Also present at the function were R Gopalakrishnan, chairman of Advinus along with the senior management including Dr Kasim Mookhtiar, CSO and head of drug discovery, Dr Nimish Vachharajani, head of pharmaceutical research and Rajiv Malik, head of business and corporate development.

Located in the Biotech Park at Hinjewadi, Pune and spread over an area of 20,000 sq ft, the discovery arm of Advinus Therapeutics will undertake novel drug discovery and generating IP primarily in the area of metabolic diseases and inflammation. The facility in Pune currently has 55 scientists in various streams with a plan to ramp up over a period of time.

Speaking at the inauguration, Ratan Tata said: "Looking ahead into the future, the group is committed to being in new high technology and knowledge-based industries, and pharma is one such area. Backed by its strong team and infrastructure, we believe that Advinus will partner global majors in creating value from their research efforts and improve the quality of life."

Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya, CEO and managing director of Advinus, said: "Post my leaving Ranbaxy, the easiest option for me was to go back to the US. I had come to India with a mission and the creation of Advinus Therapeutics offers an opportunity to leverage the India-advantage to discover and develop novel drugs with speed and cost-effectiveness. At Advinus, we will focus on creating cutting-edge research facilities with an estimated workforce of 550 employees by 2010 comprising of some of the best available talent pool from across the globe. It is a great privilege for me and every employee of Advinus that the company is promoted by a reputed group such as Tata."