GlaxoSmithKline partners with Kemwell to setup R&D facility in Bangalore, India

India’s leading pharmaceutical contract manufacturer, Kemwell has set up a new R&D facility in Bangalore, India, in partnership with the world’s leading pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).  This R&D center has been set up to cater to GSK’s global oral healthcare development projects. 

GSK’s sales in oral care amounted to £1,049 million in 2007.  Its leading oral care products are toothpastes and mouthwashes under the Aquafresh, Sensodyne, Macleans and Odol brand names.  GSK Consumer Healthcare (CH) has an aggressive target to significantly grow the business by 2013.  To enable this to happen, the R&D arm of the company has committed to doubling the number of projects running through its pipeline.  A series of initiatives have been identified within CH R&D to enable this target to be achieved.  Specifically, a Global Resourcing (GR) department has been established to identify and qualify contractors in India to increase the capacity for delivering new products through to the launch phase.

Kemwell has been selected by GR as a preferred partner for the development of Oral Care Products.  Kemwell achieved this privileged status through their senior management commitment to diversification / innovation, their ability to deliver a new GMP facility, skilled manpower and their commitment to planning, delivery and quality.  GSK and Kemwell share a relationship that spans over 20 years and have collaborated on several pharmaceutical manufacturing projects in the past.  They are now extending their relationship to meet the R&D demands of GSK. 

The newly established Oral Care Unit (OCU) at Kemwell is a state of the art GMP facility suitable for all requisite development activities prior to technical transfer of product for manufacture into a GSK facility.  The facility and staffing have been put in place by Kemwell in little over six months and the Unit is now fully operational.

In recognition of the excellent Kemwell achievement in making the OCU operational, Greg Grashoff, Director, Global Resourcing CH R&D and C R Ravi Manager Global Resourcing, attended the official opening of the Kemwell OCU on 19th November, 2008. Upon cutting the ribbon to open the facility, Greg commented on the commitment of the senior Kemwell team in providing excellent customer focused service. Greg gave special mention to Kemwell's senior management team - Subhash Bagaria (Chairman), Anurag Bagaria (VP), SK Raman (COO) and Dr. Ram Bhat (leader of the Oral Care Unit).  In addition he recognised the contribution made by GSK staff in this exciting endeavour particularly Brendan Marken (VP for New Product Development), Ravi and Steve Alexander (NPD Group Leader) plus a large team from GSK R&D in both UK and India who worked in a great collaborative fashion with Kemwell team to deliver this project.

According to Subhash Bagaria (Chairman and MD, Kemwell), “Aligning interests and implementing client-specific investments are some of the methods that Kemwell uses to lower outsourcing costs for our customers and ensure long-term success of the partnerships.”  Kemwell is further investing in infrastructure to provide R&D services such as formulation and analytical services, stability studies and clinical trial manufacturing in various dosage forms. 

GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com.

Contact Details
For further information on Kemwell, please contact Anurag Bagaria at:
anurag.bagaria@kemwellpharma.com

For further information on GSK, please contact Debosmita Majumder at:
debosmita.majumder@bm.com