GVK Bio to Set up Second API Facility in Vizag

Hyderabad, March 22,2014 – GVK Biosciences Pvt Ltd on Friday said it will invest about Rs 65-100 crore to set up an Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (API) manufacturing plant in Visakhapatnam.

This is the first industrial investment announced by a company in Seemandhra following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The proposed plant will be the second API unit for GVK, which operates a 135 kilo litre plant in Hyderabad. “The existing plant has the capacity to scale up production to 200-250 kilo litres. We are also planning to set up a second API facility in Visakhapatnam, where we have the land. This will involve an investment of about Rs 65-100 crore and will have a capacity of 250 kilo litres,” said Manni Kantipudi, CEO, GVK Bio.

Further strengthening its position in contract research, drug discovery and development and manufacturing, GVK Bio also said it will set up a formulations plant besides expanding its current laboratories in the quarters to come.

The company, however, said it was yet to determine the capital expenditure for the proposed expansion. “We don’t know how much we will require but all the funding for the proposed plans will come from our internal accruals and some debt,” said Kantipudi adding that the privately-held company was currently profitable and has even registered a 40 per cent growth in the topline during the third quarter of the current fiscal.

The proposed formulations plant will come up in Bangalore, where the company has set up a formulations lab early this year.

The company provides services to about 350 pharma and biotech companies globally. Currently, it has about 2,400 employees including over 1,100 scientists.

GVK Bio has discovered three new drug compounds over the last 2-3 years and has another 6-7 new compounds in the pipeline.

On the recent government clamp down on conducting clinical trials, Kantipudi said, the rules were affecting their business and that there was a need for proper enforcement of existing laws.

On reports over likely exist of private investor Sequoia Capital, which invested `100 crore, he maintained that Sequoia continues to be one of the active investors of the company. The Financial Express