Sai Life Sciences to Expand Biology Capabilities

Sai Life Sciences, one of India's fastest growing contract research, development and manufacturing organizations (CRDMO), unveiled plans to significantly expand its biology capabilities at its integrated R&D campus in Hyderabad, India with a dedicated 75,000 square foot facility and an augmented team of 170 biologists. The new facility will house expanded in vitro and in vivo biology services, DMPK and toxicology capabilities with the first set of labs scheduled to open in March 2021.

"We aspire to deliver over 100 development candidates for our innovator partners by 2025,” said Krishna Kanumuri, chief executive officer, and managing directory, Sai Life Sciences. “Our growing discovery biology team co-located with our teams in medicinal chemistry, process development, process engineering and scale-up will enable us to accelerate our clients' discovery programs through rapid turnaround times and shorter decision-making cycles."

Sai Life Sciences has been steadily growing its biology capabilities to complement its foundation in medicinal chemistry, DMPK and toxicology for supporting its customers across the entire drug discovery journey from target ID and validation to IND. Last year, the company opened its first international R&D facility with a biology lab in Boston, MA. The Boston Biology Lab is designed to offer start-up and biotech companies in the region biology services to address exploratory and custom biology needs. The expanding team of biologists, DMPK and toxicology scientists in India works with the Boston team to present clients an optimal solution in terms of speed, cost and talent.

The company's discovery services support a wide range of global innovator companies from start-ups to large pharma companies, across a diverse set of therapeutic areas including oncology, CNS, antivirals, and inflammation among others. With a strong track record of enduring customer relationships averaging 10+ years, Sai Life Sciences has advanced 25+ programs to different clinical phases (IND to Phase-III) with the average turnaround time from Hit/Lead to Candidate being 18 months.

Sai Life Sciences began a process of organizational transformation in 2019, through the Sai Nxt initiative, reinventing itself as a new generation global CRO/CDMO. Guided by the insights and feedback from its customers, the company is investing over US$150M (> INR 1000 Cr) to expand and upgrade its R&D and manufacturing facilities, induct top-notch global scientific and leadership talent, strengthen automation and data systems, and above all raise the bar for safety, quality and customer focus.