Mumbai, March 13Kopran Drugs, a joint venture between Synpac Pharmaceuticals of the UK and Parijat Enterprises, plans to foray into the area of biotechnology. Kopran Drugs, which had earlier taken over the semi synthetic penicillin business of Kopran Ltd, proposes to change its name to KDL Biotech Ltd to reflect its new focus, subject to the approval of the registrar of companies. KDL would invest $10 million towards research and commercialisation of biotech products used in the pharma and drug intermediate industry, according to a release.The company has already developed the use of bio-catalysts to replace synthesis in products like cephalexin from 7 ADCA.Kopran Drugs has a biotech division which manufactures penicillin G acylase -the enzyme used for the conversion of penicillin to 6APA. The company has developed Bleomycin, an anti cancer drug and a cytotoxic antibiotic, while products under development include mitomycin (another anti-cancer drug) and Vancomycin, an anti-bacterial.
A company pressrelease said that Synpac Pharmaceuticals, UK and its associate Synpac North Carolina, US are strongly entrenched in the biotechnology business. Synpac US is currently developing a biotech-based product, which is used in the treatment of enzyme deficiency in children.
This product has a market potential of $ 300 million per annum.
Internationally, biotechnology is one of the most promising areas in pharma R&D and venture capitalists are pumping in millions of dollars. BusinessWeek International says that the market capitalisation for the biotech sector grew from $97 billion in 1998 to $350 billion in mid-February this year.
Synpac Pharmaceuticals UK is currently engaged in genetic mutation and metabolic pathway engineering for specific antibiotics and is planning to expand its work in mammalian cell culture.
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