Telangana Govt Inks Consortium agreement to set up CoE on Flow Chemistry

Hyderabad: The government of Telangana State has announced the setting up of a multi-industry supported innovation and technology hub for Flow Chemistry in Hyderabad as an initiative aimed towards ensuring greater incorporation of flow chemistry techniques during pharma R&D and greater adoption of continuous synthesis for manufacturing of active pharma ingredients (APIs). In the presence of Mr. K.T Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, IT, MA & UD, Government of Telangana and Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce and IT,   a consortium agreement for setting up the CoE on Flow Chemistry was signed today by Mr. G.V. Prasad (Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories limited), Dr. Satyanarayana Chava (CEO, Laurus Labs), Mr. Shakthi Nagappan, Director (Life Sciences & Pharma) and Chief Executive Officer, Hyderabad Pharma City, Government of Telangana and Dr. Srinivas Oruganti (Director, Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences).
 
This hub would function as a Center of Excellence (CoE) and is being set-up at Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences (DRILS), a research institute of global eminence, and will receive funding and patronage from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Laurus Labs. Research activities at the CoE will benefit from the scientific mentorship and support from world-renowned scientists like Prof. Goverdhan Mehta (University of Hyderabad) and international advisors such as Prof. Steven Ley (University of Cambridge, UK), Prof. Oliver Kappe (University of Graz, Austria), Prof. Shu Kobayashi (University of Tokyo, Japan).
 
with deep expertise in the area of flow chemistry and continuous manufacturing. The Government of Telangana will facilitate strategic support and scale up for the hub by encouraging more industries join the consortium and benefit from it. 
 
Hon’ble Minister, Mr. KT Rama Rao said that “this hub would be an enabler for the pharma industry in India to make a paradigm shift towards incorporation of modern approaches from R&D to manufacturing and migration to greener and sustainable processes. The Government of Telangana is delighted to facilitate and support the establishment of the CoE with the help of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Laurus Labs. I congratulate our life sciences team for their efforts for pulling this together”. 
 
Mr. Jayesh Ranjan said that “We remain committed to the growth of life sciences sector and consolidating our leadership position. Government of Telangana jointly with DRILS has envisaged establishment of this hub to support pharma companies in the city build scientific capabilities, support process development and also training.”.
 
Mr. Shakthi Nagappan added that “CoE is another milestone in accelerating the growth of Life Sciences sector in the state. This is part of the larger effort of the State become the USD 100 Bn life sciences ecosystem by 2030”.
 
On this occasion, Mr. G.V. Prasad said, “We are happy to participate in this collaborative effort spearheaded by the Government of Telangana to bring the latest technologies in flow chemistry to the API and intermediate industry and to the state. As an early adopter of sustainability as a core value, we look forward to contributing to the creation of deep local expertise in sustainable and green manufacturing processes.”
 
Dr. Chava said that “Laurus Labs is pleased to be part of the Telangana Government, Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences, and Industry initiative towards developing and commercializing cleaner, greener, and safe chemical technologies for the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry. The establishment of CoE for Flow Chemistry at Hyderabad will further cement its position as a global leader in Pharmaceutical Industry.”
 
Dr. Srinivas Oruganti remarked, “The Flow Chemistry Technology Hub (FCT-Hub) will focus on bringing together multiple capabilities from chemistry and engineering expertise to choose the right reactions and help pharma and biotech companies in prioritizing products and processes to find workable solutions to challenges faced in translating existing processes to continuous manufacturing.”
 
Prof. Goverdhan Mehta noted that this is a landmark initiative from many perspectives. The hub is expected to accelerate the indigenous development of advanced processes that would strengthen the state’s as well as country’s position as a global leader in pharmaceuticals.
 
Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana, is regarded as the life sciences capital of India and an important life sciences hub in Asia Pacific. With over 800 pharmaceutical companies, the city hosts the highest number of USFDA approved facilities globally and contributes to about 35% of India’s overall pharmaceutical production.
 
Indian pharma sector is dominated by the generic industry with API and API intermediates being the key constituents. In an ever-challenging pharma market, increasing structural complexity, complex chemical transformations and multi-step synthesis are increasingly becoming a commonplace requirement even in case of the key synthetic intermediates. Despite being aware of the benefits of adopting flow technologies in this scenario and the will being there, the Indian API industry is finding it difficult to adopt flow technologies and adapt to the changing paradigm of continuous manufacturing. The hub would enable a streamlined translation of a chemical process, demonstrated successfully in flow on lab scale, into one that is well-poised for continuous manufacturing requires an informed choice of appropriate flow chemistry tools and utilities.