The growth story of life sciences in Telangana
Lighthouse Canton Real Estate plans to add about one million sqft commercial space suited for pharma and life sciences companies at Genome Valley
Hyderabad: Lighthouse Canton Real Estate, which is into developing commercial spaces for lifesciences sector, is planning to add about one million sqft commercial space that is suited for pharma and life sciences companies in phases at Genome Valley. It already has about one million sqft and has 30 tenants. And that is just one fraction of how space is becoming premium in Genome Valley as more and more companies look towards Telangana to set up shop.
Subrata KV Sharma, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lighthouse Canton Real Estate, said Hyderabad has the right ecosystem that fosters the growth of lifesciences companies. BioAsia, the flagship event of Telangana, is a platform that brings various stakeholders together. It often generates leads for the real estate space providers as several deals fructify there, he said.
“Telangana is making a commendable effort in nurturing the health and life sciences industry. It is a meaningful contribution and adds value to society. This effort makes the job easy for players like us,” he said, adding that availability of manpower and resources are main factors that are bringing new investments to the State. This apart, several existing players are also expanding here, he said.
The lifescience sector in the State is valued at $50 billion and efforts are on to double it to $100 billion in five years. The workforce in the sector is now around four lakh and this will also double.
“Hyderabad has the best infrastructure and favours industrial development. The ecosystem is available,” said Sharma. About 2,000 people are working in the Neovantage Innovation Parks office space at Genome Valley. The company is now looking for LEED certification for its premises and also for property management.
TS is also setting the B-Hub, which will foster startups, innovation and research, Sharma said. B-Hub is a PPP project with the Government of Telangana, Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) and Department of Biotechnology. This aims at catalysing the biopharma sector.
Earlier in October last year, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao laid the foundation stone for five projects. These involve a cumulative investment of Rs 1,100 crore and have potential to create employment for 3,000 people.
These also include the Biopharma Hub (B-Hub), a PPP project with the Government of Telangana State, Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) and Department of Biotechnology. This aims at catalysing the biopharma sector.
Demand for space in Genome Valley
The demand for space at Genome Valley was on the rise. Various developments and expansions happening at the Genome Valley would add about 20 lakh sqft space in the next two years or so. Over 200 biotechnology, life sciences and pharmaceutical companies operate from Genome Valley, India’s first organised research and development cluster. It has more plug-and-play facilities than all clusters put together.
Various companies including Biological E Limited and Indian Immunologicals have announced investments worth Rs 2,500 crore to up vaccine manufacturing capacities.
Homegrown pharma company Hetero announced Rs 750 crore to set up sterile pharmaceutical products while global pharmaceutical player Roche is setting up its global analytics and technology centre in Hyderabad.
Rx-Propellant had began the work on development of 9 lakh sq ft of multi-tenant life sciences laboratory space. Rx-Propellant, which is part of the UK-based global investment firm Actis, and its associates have committed to invest Rs 900 crore at Genome Valley. The 9 lakh sq ft includes the Biopharma Hub (B-Hub), GV One, an upcoming campus.
The groundbreaking of Phase II of three campuses – Innopolis, Touchstone, and ARX – was also conducted in October. Rx Propellant has plans to increase the investment in Genome Valley to Rs 2,000 crore in two years with a potential employment generation of more than 3,000 scientific jobs for the cluster.
GV Research Platform’s (GVRP) is investing about Rs 40 crore for a 28,000 sq ft facility. Over the next 3 years, the company has plans to invest an additional $10 million to introduce complementary research areas with the workforce increasing to 200 people.
By 2024, it plans to move all the SPF rodent breeding operations to a dedicated 50,000 sq ft facility for inclusion of additional rodent strains, Guinea Pigs, Hamsters and rabbits in the portfolio.
Yapan Bio expanded its capabilities with a new process development facility to support development and manufacturing of RNA, DNA and gene therapy products starting from plasmids. VIMTA Labs, a Hyderabad-based contract research and testing organisation, inaugurated its electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) lab last year.
B-Hub
Biopharma Hub (B-Hub) foundation was laid in October. It is a first-of-its-kind growth-phase centre and biopharma scale-up manufacturing facility. It is poised to be an epicentre for fast growing biotechnology companies. It will have a bioprocess scale-up facility, research and development laboratories, collaboration modules and training rooms.
It will support small and medium-sized biopharma companies in conducting proof-of-concept studies in its 200L single use scale-up facility and will cater to research activities within its 1.5 lakh sqft area. It will aid in attracting talent and fostering innovation, said Rama Rao.
The new facility will act as a catalyst for the biopharma sector. Complemented by Hyderabad’s booming lifesciences ecosystem, B-Hub will provide a unique opportunity for fast growing organisations in the biopharma sector.
B-Hub will also have good laboratory practice (GLP) – grade turnkey incubator. The scale-up manufacturing facility will give domestic companies the required impetus viz-a-viz Korea, China and France that have taken the lead in biopharma innovation. With companies aggressively embarking on global biologics and biosimilars opportunities, a biopharma scale-up facility will help them reduce the time to market.
