Scientific KPO

Amongst other sectors, Bioinformatics, Data Mining and Analysis, Biotech and Pharmaceutical Research (Contract research) and Intellectual Property Research are expected to make huge strides in the area of outsourcing.

Informatics in Biotechnology

This has given rise to the science of Informatics, which uses Information Technology (IT) for data management and analyses. Informatics has been applied to diverse fields from medicine, biotechnology and food technology to fine arts. It involves the management and analysis of data using advanced computing techniques.

The recent flood of data from genomic sequencing, functional genomics and proteomics has given rise to the field of Bioinformatics. This data, which is now publicly available in databases, has given rise to major issues such as data capture, data warehousing and data mining, all of which form part of the field of Bioinformatics. In simple terms, Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary research area that encompasses development and usage of mathematical, statistical and information technology tools to manage and analyze biological data.

Cheminformatics uses computers for the management, mining and analysis of chemical structures and related property data and information. This is particularly used in drug designing, for lead screening and optimization of New Chemical Entities (NCE). Until recently, drug designing involved a labour-intensive, trial-and-error process, often spanning a time frame of 15-20 years. Now cheminformatics has opened up the possibility of using information technology to plan and automate processes related to the chemical synthesis of possible therapeutic compounds. The application of Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics helps us decide well in advance which chemical entity forms the strongest contender.

Reasons to outsource Research Informatics?

Decrease time from lab to market
Increase efficiency and productivity
Minimize financial risk by minimizing operational and ownership cost
Cash in on in-depth experience and resources with regulatory processes around the world
Be able to focus on your core strengths

Outsourcing to India - "Cash in on the Cash Advantage"

"The Indian bioinformatics market is expected to exceed US$2 billion by 2008, while the market for Indian biotech R&D products and services will rise to around US$ 3 billion by 2010. The R&D being outsourced to India in these segments relates to areas such as molecular biology, DNA sequencing, molecular biology software packages, molecular modeling, among others."- NASSCOM - KPMG report 2004

Contract research organizations in India are being widely used by pharmaceutical companies. They are mainly used for lead optimization and improvement in manufacturing processes.
India offers substantial cost advantages – often as much as 40-60 percent – in the areas of contract research and clinical trials.
By Offshoring data mining and analytics, cost advantages reach as high as 70 percent.
India provides a large pool of English speaking engineers and scientists at a lower cost.
According to a recent report on the Bioinformatics sector by Avendus Advisors, an India-based investment bank, the Indian bioinformatics market projects a healthy growth rate and is expected to garner approximately US$15-20 million in 2006.
The Indian Government has recognized the value of KPO in the country's economy and has taken considerable measures towards liberalization and deregulation.
Consistent with WTO guidelines effective from 2005, India will also offer 10-year tax concessions on revenue to companies making Research & Development (R&D) investments here.