The next decade belongs to life sciences and healthcare, and the Telangana government is committed to promote the sector, said Minister for IT, Industries and Municipal Administration & Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao on Monday. The government’s target is to double the healthcare, life sciences and pharma ecosystems currently valued at US$50 billion, he added.
The Minister was addressing a gathering after launching Swiss firm Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ €30 million manufacturing and R&D facility at Genome Valley here. The speciality biopharmaceutical firm headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, is a leader in reproductive medicine and maternal health, gastroenterology and urology.
Welcoming the Swiss firm, Mr. Rama Rao pointed out that Maharashtra was its original destination, but the facility came to the city as a testimony of the overall eco-system available here and pro-business policies of the government. The Minister reminded the gathering that his recent trip to the United States fetched a potential ₹7,500 crore worth of investments to Telangana, more than half of which are in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.
He expressed happiness over Genome Valley’s growth as a powerhouse of life sciences not only in India but also globally with several marquee companies establishing their labs and manufacturing units. The recent investments have been into development of healthcare products and vaccines, pharma and medical devices with special focus on women care, he said.
Ferring has been developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 years and has a portfolio covering treatments from conception to birth, said vice-president (Strategic Projects and Engineering) Francois Hosotte. It has 15 research and manufacturing units across the world with the first in the country opened three decades ago in Mumbai and then in Ahmedabad. About 18% of the €2 billion revenues goes into R&D and the the development facility spread over two buildings of 7,500 sq.ft. overall, will employ 100 people to begin with, he said.
Managing director and site head of Ferring Pharma, Anindya Ghosh, Telangana IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan, and Industrial Infrastructure Investment Corporation managing director E.V. Narasimha Reddy were present
