US based company, Abbott Laboratories has joined hands with biotechnology company Biocon Ltd to develop nutrition products for the Indian market. Abbott Laboratories on May 3, 2012 said that a research and development centre will be built in Bangalore along with Syngene, which is a unit of Biocon.
The R&D centre will be developing affordable nutrition products for children, women and diabetic patients. The operations at the research centre is expected to begin in the month of June, which will have 50 scientists.
The drug maker did not reveal the details of the investment. Robert Miller, the divisional vice president, global R&D of Abbott Nutrition said in a statement “India is a priority market for investment, growth and innovation”.
Abbott, after the acquisition of Piramal Healthcare’s formulations has become the largest drugmaker by market share in the Indian market. The lobby group Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has mentioned that the nutrition market in India is home to more than 1.3 billion people. The middleclass section in the country is rapidly increasing and the need for more diabetic friendly products has also increased. Due to such strong factors the demand for nutrition products is increasing everyday.
