Dr Reddy's expands its Chirotech R&D center in UK

At a time of significant pharma R&D job losses in the UK, there was a bit of good news, as India’s second largest drugmaker Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (NYSE: RDY) this week announced the opening of its newly-expanded Chirotech Technology Center at Cambridge Science Park, UK, where Chirotech has been based for the last 20 years.

Dr Reddy’s acquired that facility in 2008 for some £20 million ($32.8 million at current exchange rates) and has since spent several million pounds more on the site, which provides specialist services not only to its Indian parent but also to third parties.

The new 33,000 sq ft facility, the cost of which was not disclosed, is purpose built for laboratories and offices and has been fitted to Dr Reddy’s specific requirements for chemistry, biology and analytics. This is essentially an R&D function for Dr Reddy's, a spokesperson for which told The Pharma Letter that this is where it does highly specialized work, which is then either sold on to clients or scaled up in India, noting that it provide a “firewall” for companies still a bit nervous of out-sourcing to India.