Research & Development

Ranbaxy views its R&D capabilities as a vital component of its business strategy that will provide a sustainable, long-term competitive advantage. The Company has a pool of over 1,200 R&D personnel engaged in path-breaking research.

Ranbaxy is among the few Indian pharmaceutical companies in India to have started its research program in the late 70's, in support of its global ambitions. A first-of-its-kind world class R&D centre was commissioned in 1994. Today, the Company has multi-disciplinary R&D centers at Gurgaon, in India, with dedicated facilities for generics research and innovative research. The R&D environment reflects its commitment to be a leader in the generics space offering value added formulations and development of NDA/ANDAs, based on its Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS) research capability.

The NDDS research at Ranbaxy focuses on maximizing the overall therapeutic and commercial value of commonly prescribed pharmaceutical formulations by enhancing their performance and reducing their adverse event profile. Such innovation also helps to improve the overall patient convenience and compliance

The company's NDDS focus is mainly on the development of New Drug Applications (NDA) / Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) of oral controlled- release products for the regulated markets. The Company's first significant international success using the NDDS technology platform came in September 1999, when Ranbaxy licensed its once-a-day Ciprofloxacin formulation on a worldwide basis to a multinational Company.

Ranbaxy's in-house NDDS programs are primarily focused on the oral segment. Inhalation (patented devices) and trans-dermal (patented adhesive polymers) programs are also being pursued through collaborations.

In the oral NDDS space, Ranbaxy has already developed four platform technologies namely Gastro Retentive, Modified Matrix, Multiparticulate and AeroGel. Several products leveraging these technologies have been successfully developed.

In July 2010, Ranbaxy’s New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR) was transferred to Daiichi Sankyo India Pharma Private Limited as part of the strategy to strengthen the global Research and Development structure of the Daiichi Sankyo Group. While NDDR will now become an integral part of Daiichi Sankyo Life Science Research Center in India, based in Gurgaon, Ranbaxy will continue to independently develop and later commercialise the anti-malarial new drug, Arterolane + PQP, which is currently in Phase III trials, and will also explore the further development of late stage programs developed by NDDR in the last few years, including the development programs in the GSK collaboration.

Within Ranbaxy, R&D of Generics will now get a sharper focus, as the Company is increasingly working on more complex and specialist areas.