The promoters of Ranbaxy Laboratories have entered the clinical research segment by setting up a contract research organisation christened Fortis Clinical Research Activities.
Although the Singhs, Ranbaxy's promoter family, have been quiet about it, the venture has been in operation for a couple of months.
"As a group, we took a decision a year ago to set up a facility that would conduct clinical trials. Today we have set it up completely and has been operational for a few months. We saw a very large Indian opportunity in this sphere", said Harpal Singh, chairman, Fortis Healthcare, a healthcare company promoted by Shivinder and Malvinder Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy.
While refusing to name the CRO's clientele, Harpal Singh added that the facility would cater to all pharmaceutical companies, international and domestic.
Singh explained that the Fortis Clinical Research Services was equipped to conduct studies in bioavailability, bioequivalence, pharmacokinetics and complex chemistry. He, however, declined to specify the investment figure or the ownership pattern of the entity.
There are also definite synergies with Fortis' other arms such as SRL Ranbaxy, which is a central reference laboratory working for international pharma, CROs.
With Fortis Clinical Research, the group now has a competent facility where volunteers can be administered dosages and samples sent to SRL.
Singh, who pegs the outsourcing potential in the CRO business at over $5 billion over 5 to 10 years, commented that the main driver of this growth would be the global research oriented companies. The domestic potential depends on the research programmes of domestic companies.
"The crucial determinants in this scenario would be the cost competitiveness, compression of timelines and top of the line quality in research work", said Singh.
This indicated branching onto a new line of business, under the Fortis umbrella, for the Ranbaxy promoter group, which already has strong presence in pharmaceuticals, healthcare and financial services sector.
Fortis Healthcare made the biggest acquisition in healthcare history when it bought Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre for Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion).
Besides scouting actively for inorganic growth options, Fortis has also set aside Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) to construct a comprehensive healthcare complex in Gurgaon, called Fortis International Institute of Medical & BioSciences.Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group