A high-tech laboratory aimed at developing pharma and drug intermediates, which are nothing but chemical compounds used as raw materials for production of bulk drugs, was inaugurated at the city-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT).
The new laboratory, Dr AV Rama Rao Kilo Lab Facility was inaugurated by Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Shekhar C Mande. The laboratory will not only serve researchers from IICT and other scientific institutions of CSIR but also incubate start-ups.
Dr Mande said the unique facility will enable preparation of pharma and drug intermediates as well as generic drug molecules with high quality standards. Interacting with students and staff of IICT, he advised them to draw a strategy to meet the societal needs of the nation through advancements in science and technology.
The laboratory is named at Dr AV Rama Rao, the former Director of IICT, who has developed over 50 drug technologies that have been commercialised by the Indian pharma industry. For his groundbreaking discoveries, Dr Rao also received Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2016.
Director of IICT, Dr Chandrasekhar said the institute was involved in agro and pharma mission mode projects and the new facility would be of immense use for IICT and other CSIR institutes. “The pharma products obtained from the facility are fit to go directly for clinical trials,” he added.