Hyderabad based Sai Life Sciences, one of India's fastest growing Contract Research, Development & Manufacturing Organisations (CRDMOs), has announced plans to double its headcount and expand its suite of technical capabilities at its Manchester site, a centre of excellence for API process and analytical development serving an expanding list of global clients.

Making the announcement, Krishna Kanumuri, CEO & Managing Director, Sai Life Sciences, said, "We are truly heartened by our customers' response to our Manchester site. The site serves as a vital bridge to our pilot and manufacturing facilities in India, enabling seamless integration with the rest of our service offerings across the US and India, spanning the drug discovery, development, and commercialisation continuum. This expansion will further enhance our ability to add value to the NCE pipelines of our customers.”

The Sai Life Sciences' Manchester site became fully operational in August 2020, onboarded 24 members of staff and has since delivered multiple projects involving complex chemistry. With a growing interest from customers across the UK, Europe and the US, the present expansion involves an increase in capacity from 20 to 75 fume cupboards and an increase in headcount from 24 to 50+ scientists.

Located in the heart of the Alderley Park life-sciences ecosystem, Sai Life Sciences' Manchester site creates opportunities for the UK and EU based pharma companies and biotechs to have easier face-to-face collaboration with its scientists, and to provide easier collaboration with US-based clients due to reduced time zone differences. 

Sai Life Sciences is currently amid an organisation-wide transformation. It is investing $150 million during 2019-23, as part of the Sai Nxt initiative, across three core areas – people & culture, processes & automation, infrastructure & scientific capabilities.