Orchid has been quick to recognise the importance of developing knowledge-intensive businesses as drivers of future growth. The focus on R&D as a key value driver has further strengthened the overall business and growth horizon of the company. Orchid aims to become a partner of choice to select global pharma companies in terms of New Chemical Entity (NCE) development, Novel Drug Delivery Systems (NDDS) development, custom synthesis and R&D services.

Orchid’s world class, state-of-the-art R&D centres located at Sholinganallur and Irungattukottai in Chennai for advanced chemical research and analytical development as well as modern formulations development are of global standards.

Orchid’s R&D Centre has received the Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) certification from the National GLP Monitoring Authority of India. The certification covers the areas of physical-chemical testing, safety pharmacology & pharmacokinetic studies, toxicity studies, mutagenicity studies and analytical & clinical chemistry testing. The certification is in accordance with OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) principles for GLP certification.

Orchid has one of the most comprehensive research programs in the Indian pharmaceutical field. Spread across two campuses of 12 acres in Chennai, the research initiatives are divisionalised into core areas of Process Research, Pharma Research, New Drug Discovery (NDD), Pre-clinical Research, Novel Drug Delivery Systems (NDDS), Biotech research and Intellectual Property Management (IPR). Together, these streams signify the generation of vital intellectual property.

Orchid's research team is continuously engaged in new research projects to aid process and technology development, development of new molecules, chemical process enhancement and development of innovative drug delivery systems.

Orchid’s R&D is equipped with sophisticated equipment such as NMR, GC/Mass and HPLCs and the research groups work in a scientific environment matching global standards. Several innovative processes have been developed and global patents have been filed, some of which have already been granted. The R&D is also backed by a full spectrum of library and information management service.

Given the impressive infrastructure comprising in silico drug design, medicinal chemistry, in vitro as well as in vivo microbiology and pharmacology and animal toxicology, Orchid has emerged as a full-fledged drug discovery centre with end-to-end connectivity from discovery to validation, including pre-clinical evaluation. Orchid is thus ideally poised to be a partner of choice for global discovery outsourcing in the future.

Orchid’s scientific personnel comprises over 450 scientists covering the entire spectrum of R&D and analytical activities. These scientists work in various areas of drug discovery and development, besides CMC and other related process research, pharma research activities.

Analytical Facilities

Orchid’s R&D is equipped with sophisticated instruments such as NMR, LC-MS, XRD, DSC, IR, UV, HPLC, GC and Polarimeter. Analytical division has well trained and experienced scientists in various analytical field to perform different types of analytical studies like Method Validation, solubility, solution stability, Physicochemical properties, Polymorphic Analysis, Isomeric Analysis & complete characterization of NCEs for Medicinal Chemistry and Biology groups. The division also performs Method development for the NCEs, stability studies and preparation of Analytical dossiers for IND molecules for pre-clinical formulations to cater the needs of the Biologists. Adhering to OECD guidelines of GLP all the studies are performed in these laboratories.