GVK Biosciences in crop protection research deal with DuPont Crop Protection

Hyderabad-based contract research pahrma firm GVK Biosciences , has been appointed by DuPont Crop Protection as a strategic alliance partner for discovery chemistry services in India.

GVK is  provider of integrated research services for big pharma and biotech companies globally and has developed an enviable track record of assisting them in accelerating their drug discovery and development process. It has a diverse customer portfolio including 15 big pharma companies, agri and life-sciences companies, biotechs and academic institutions. The company has over 1,500 employees spread across research facilities in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Gurgaon in India.

In January GVK and Munich-based Crelux had set-up a fragment-based drug discovery platform to deliver rapidly, viable lead molecules by combining Crelux's structural biology technologies with GVK BIO's computer-assisted drug design (CADD) tools right upto novel drug candidates stage.

In May last year the company entered into a drug discovery pact with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, after having, earler in February, GVK Biosciences licensed its toxicity database to AstraZeneca.

DuPont and GVK have been working together for over five years and the Hyderabad firm already has a dedicated discovery chemistry team to work on DuPont's various R&D initiatives.

"Based on our valued relationship of the past years, we are ready to advance to a new level of technical collaboration with GVK Biosciences," said Julia Wheeler, R&D director, DuPont Crop Protection.

"DuPont is one of our large and long-standing customers and is now taking our relationship to the next level based on consistent delivery with speed and quality. Over the years GVK BIO has tackled projects that vary in degree of complexity in crop protection and has built a niche expertise to serve the agro science community," said Manni Kantipudi, president, GVK BIO.