– Stephen Fisher, managing director – APAC, BioTek, US

BioTek, a US-based company focusing on hybrid microplate detection technology, has released its new product, the Synergy H1 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader,  a low-cost hybrid technology catering to the academic research community.  According to the company, this latest addition to its patent-pending product line expands the performance, versatility and flexibility offered by hybrid technology. With this launch, the company will look at grabbing 20 percent market share in India. Stephen Fisher, managing director – APAC, BioTek, speaks exclusively with BioSpectrum. Excerpts from the interview.

Q What are the unique features of Synergy H1 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader?
The product was launched simultaneously across the world and our distributors  in each region will take it forward from there. With this launch, we will gradually expand our business into the hybrid technology market and the advantage of this product is that it offers our life sciences customers, the flexibility, quality outputs, performance and  above all value for money. Usually, multi-mode microplate readers are expensive and are affordable only to pharmaceutical, CRO and drug discovery companies. Academic institutions and universities that are into basic research cannot afford such high-cost machines.

Synergy H1 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader is a cost-effective technology as it is 30 percent less expensive than the usual high-end  multi-mode micro plate reader (whose price range is anywhere between 19.67 lakh-23.42 lakh ($42,000-$50,000). This product is available at a price range between 13.11 lakh-16.39 lakh ($28,000-$35,000). So unlike our Synergy H4 technology which has a lot of luxury features, we have designed the Synergy H1  technology to cater to those into basic research, mainly molecular biology research.

Q What is the targeted market share for Synergy H1 in India?
We have launched this product worldwide at one go and not in phases, as usually adopted by companies, to first test the product in a market and mitigate the risk. We are confident about this product. In India,  we have launched it to our distributors who, at the moment, are training  their sales force about this product. In India, we are looking at grabbing a 20 percent market share in this product segment, over the next 18 months.  We have designed this product in tune with the Indian market, rather than the US and Western markets.

Q What is the company’s overall strategy for India?
In the next five years, we are looking at a year-on-year growth rate of 15 percent. We will grow quickly especially with the launch of the Synergy H1 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader. Over the past three years, we have been doing extremely well in India. We will be investing heavily in people and support services, a lot into demonstration equipments. These investments will double our business in India in coming years. We will also look at a 50-60 percent increase in capacity in India. We are here to stay in India.

Q What are the recent achievements of BioTek in the Asia Pacific region?
In the APAC region, we have seen a 30 percent increase in revenues over 2009. A split up of the regions shows that in India we have grown by 15 percent, South Korea has shown tremendous growth of over 30 percent increase, China  (35 percent), Australia (over 30 percent) growth.

—Nayantara Som in Mumbai