Biocon to set up unit in Visakhapatnam

Pharmaceutical giant Biocon on Sunday announced its plans to set up a manufacturing facility in the port city of Visakhapatnam within six months besides setting up e-healthcare units for promoting rural healthcare in Andhra Pradesh.

The announcement was made by Biocon's Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw after meeting Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at his residence.
Shaw announced plans to set up a vaccine biopharma manufacturing plant and a high-end R&D facility at an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore in the Jawaharlal pharma SEZ in the port city.

During the meeting, the Biocon CMD gave a presentation to the Chief Minister on e-healthcare and its advantages. She briefed him about telemedicine and e-diagnosis where the data (details of the patient) will be uploaded on the cloud. “This e-diagnosis concept would be beneficial to people living in rural areas who do not have access to healthcare services and wouldn’t have to travel to cities for treatment,” said Shaw.
She informed the Chief Minister that Biocon is running pilot centers in Odisha and Rajasthan. The company is rolling out 50 centers in Odisha and 100 centers in Rajasthan on a pilot basis.
Responding to this, the Chief Minister told Shaw that AP is prepared to roll out 100-200 pilot centers.
In 2007 Biocon had taken land in the pharma city and announced plans to set up an insulin and vaccine making unit but it did not materialize.