GVK Biosciences plans Rs 100 crore active pharmaceutical ingredients facility

Sequoia Capital backed small molecule contract drug discovery and manufacturing services firm GVK Biosciences proposes to set up active pharmaceutical ingredients ( APIs) manufacturing facility to cater to the needs of its existing and new customers.

Talking to reporters in Hyderabad on Friday, the GVK Bio chief executive officer Manni Kantipudi said the proposed facility would involve around Rs 100 crore of investment. The company, where Sequoia Capital now holds little over 9% stake, will finalise the location of the project after getting clarity over the Andhra Pradesh state bifurcation process.

Manni said the proposed expansion needs around 100 acres of land and it would be completed in 24 months, where the company would deploy internal accruals.

The chief executive said the company, who now has 2,400 employees and over 350 customers spread across the globe, is looking at emerging as bellwether of Indian contract drug discovery and manufacturing services.

Denying the news on Sequoia Capital looking at exiting the company and promoters exploring plans to divest stake, he said GVK Bio was neither in need of funds nor in a hurry to go public.

The Hyderabad headquartered firm, which recently acquired the US-based pre-clinical contract research organisation Aragen Bioscience specialising in high-value biologics services, currently owns an APIs unit and research and clinical labs in Hyderabad. Apart from having a clinical trial facility in Ahmadabad, the company has recently started a formulations lab at Bangalore.