AstraZeneca will scale-up its operations in India with the expansion of its Process R&D group in Bangalore.

Announcing the expansion, Kumud Sampath, president, AstraZeneca Bangalore said, "It has been our long cherished wish to make AstraZeneca R&D India a part of the AstraZeneca Global R&D organisation.

"With the establishment of Discovery R&D and the Process R&D centres in India, our wish has come true. With this, the India operations of AstraZeneca will now include the Discovery Phase R&D, Process R&D, manufacturing facility and marketing division at Bangalore."

New land, totaling 14,200 sq.meters, has been purchased. This will be used for a planned investment to house up to 50 more scientists along with the support staff for Process R&D.

The planned investment will extend the recently built state-of-the art R&D facility at Bangalore, to provide new Process R&D laboratories with the required scale-up facilities and associated equipment.