By Darlington Jose Hector
Times News Network
Bangalore: Even as issues revolving around Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the IY sector are being bandied about in the media, the biotechnology industry has coined a fresh term – Research Process Outsourcing (RPO).
Bangalore based life sciences company Avesthagen, which has metamorphosed healthcare solutions firm from being a pure agri-bio outfit, has created a RPO platform under which co-development and contract research activities are being carried out.
The company has defined RPO as a long term relationship (unlike a BPO) through which a customer can leverage the entire ecosystem to facilitate continuous research improved operational effectiveness.
Avesthagen founder Villoo Morawala Patell told The Times of India that the company has developed a range of capabilities to become a competitive outsource partner for pharmaceutical, seed and biotech companies. “At Avesthagen, RPO will involve outsourcing of an entire research function, process,” she said.
Having developed expertise in genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and metabolomics over the last five years, Avesthagen has decided to create this integrated biotechnology platform. Its RPO activities will be applied in its focus areas to aid rapid development of novel therapeutics and molecular diagnostic products.
Already the company is on a co-development mode, having forged alliances with AstraZeneca, Advanta Seeds, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and French company BioMerieux.
Simultaneously Avesthagen will work on nutraceutical products, the first of which will be out within 18-20 months. Company COO Ramani Aiyer said the nutraceutical market in India has been exploding and Avesthagen wanted to be a part of it.
An Ernst & Young report published last year titled ‘Beyond boundaries’ had said that in order to consolidate, biotech companies will have to find partners with complimentary technologies. The report said the success of the industry will depend on creating the lowest cost base for innovation.