In April 2011, the Indo-Spanish joint venture (JV) company 3B Blackbio Biotech India opened a new biotech plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh state.
The plant is a joint venture between Indian agrochemical company Kilpest India (51%) and Spanish biotechnology companies 2B Blackbio Biotech (29%) and Biotools B&M Labs (20%).
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Biotools B&M Labs is focused on research, development, and manufacture of recombinant enzymes and molecular biology reagents.
2B Blackbio is focused on the personalised medicine market, developing and marketing molecular diagnosis kits and microarray products.
The 3B BlackBio Biotech India plant focuses on several proteomic and genomic technologies. It will develop, manufacture and market molecular biology products and provide integral solutions in the areas of pharmacogenetics and life sciences.
Biotech plant project
The plant is located in the 7-C Industrial Area in Govindpura town of Bhopal. It consists of production, research and development (R&D), quality control, clean room, laboratories, and other facilities. It has a well qualified team of scientists and technicians and the estimated investment in the plant was INR30m ($609,810).
Target industries include pharmaceutical, clinical diagnostic, research, development and agro-food. The company will collaborate with the government and non-governmental organisations (NGO) for R&D in molecular biology. It also aims to custom develop solutions for pharma, agro-food, and biotech companies, hospitals, and academic institutions through its R&D portfolio.
Facility and technologies
The plant features a 180ft² pre-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab equipped with laminar air flow, a double distillator, a deep freezer, a microwave oven, a vacuum cleaner, and micropipettes. It also has a 100.8ft² I PCR lab equipped with a thermalcycler, laminar air flow, a gel doc system, and a vortex mixer.
Another 180ft² II PCR lab is equipped with an real time (RT) PCR machine, gradient PCR machines, laminar air flow, electrophoresis assembly, micropipettes, a spinwin microfuge, an ultraviolet (UV) transilluminator, and a computer.
A 90.6ft² electrophoresis lab at the plant consists of horizontal and vertical electrophoresis assemblies, micropipettes, a vortex mixer, and a gel rocker. A 180ft² quality control lab is equipped with laminar air flow, an oven, centifuges, micropipettes, and a precision weigh machine.
A 216ft² extraction lab is available with a biosafety cabinet, a cooling centrifuge, a microfuge, a deep freezer and refrigerator, a gel rocker, a bacteriological incubator, a humidifier and fumigator, a microwave oven, a water bath, and a vortex mixer.
The 195ft² scientist room has computers, a projector, and other furniture and fixtures. A -20°C, 65ft² storage facility consists of deep freezers and a control panel for clean rooms. A 180ft² computer room consists of computers and refrigerator.
A 520ft² clean room for molecular biology work includes a dispensing room, a reagent preparation room, a buffer preparation room, and a production room.
The equipment of the clean room includes an eppendorf electronic pipette, micropipettes, static deep freezers of -20°C, a vortex shaker, a magnetic stirrer, a spinwin microcentrifuge, a gel rocker, a sonabox, a jack stand, an ultrasonic homogeniser or sonicator, an eppendorf centrifuge, a new brunswick shaker, and an eppendorf biophotometer.
A 170ft² media preparation and autoclave room comprises of a magnetic stirrer, a UV cabinet, a hot air oven, a Karl Fischer Titrator, an ultraviolet-visual (UV-VIS) spectrophotometer, a VIS spectrophotometer, a flash point, electronic balances, kipps apparatus, a rotary vacuum evaporator, and a centrifuge.
The facility also consists of a 132.8ft² chemical store room with -20°C deep freezers, a millipore water system, analytical and precision weigh machines, micropipettes, an air conditioner, chemical storage racks, and cupboards.
Production and manufacturing
The facility will produce molecular biology products such as PCR enzymes, PCR reagents, real time kits, reverse transcriptase kits, cloning vectors, electrophoresis reagents, nucleic acid purification, accessories and plastic products, molecular diagnostics, AGFoods kits, BIOFood ID kit, BIOFood mixed kit, BIOGenics standard kit and 3B control DNA.
It will also manufacture equipment such as end-point thermal cyclers, real-time thermal cyclers, and gradient thermal cyclers. 3B Blackbio Biotech India has a licence for patented gelification technology, owned by Biotools B&M Labs.
The R&D team will focus on proteomic and genomic biomarkers, as well as technology development to global standards. Its focus areas also include oncology, microbiology, nutrition, metabolic disorders, and pharmacogenetics.
The customer services will include DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction, sample isolation, microbial identification including fungal identification services, microsequencing, and genotyping complying with the latest good manufacturing practices (GMP).
Other services include the development of companion diagnostic tests, human genetic tests, prognostic tests, critical referral tests, or nutrigenetic studies.
Capacity
The plant has a capacity to produce between 30l and 35l of enzymes and 5l to 10l of kits a year. It also has buffers production capacity of 500l to 600l per annum.
Construction / contractors
Construction of the facility was started in January 2011 and was completed for inauguration in April. Mumbai-based Kleanzone Systems (India) was the clean room supplier.
