Biotech Companies in Bangalore: an overview
Bengaluru's biotech story usually begins with Biocon. It was incorporated in November 1978 as a joint venture between Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Ireland's Biocon Biochemicals, and its first products were enzymes such as papain, sold to the brewing industry. Biocon listed on Indian stock exchanges in 2004. Its group now includes two other large companies: Syngene, a research services firm incorporated in 1993 and separately listed on the NSE and BSE, and Biocon Biologics, the biosimilars business headquartered in Electronics City.
Several of the city's biologics sites sit along the Bommasandra–Jigani Link Road. Biocon Park there houses Syngene's corporate office, a Biocon Biologics research centre and a 350,000 sq ft monoclonal antibody drug-substance plant. Contract manufacturers work nearby: Aragen runs a biologics manufacturing facility at Jigani, and OneSource Specialty Pharma operates five facilities in Bengaluru. Immuneel Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy developer, is based at Narayana Health City in Bommasandra.
Early-stage companies rely on public incubators. The Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre in Helix Biotech Park, Electronic City, was set up jointly by Karnataka's electronics, IT and biotechnology department and India's Department of Biotechnology. Regenerative medicine firm Pandorum has labs there. C-CAMP, on the GKVK campus, incubated the antibacterial developer Bugworks and hosts the R&D centre of seaweed company Sea6 Energy. Genomics is another strength: Strand Life Sciences, MedGenome, Genotypic and 4baseCare are all based in the city.