Magazine : 
Bengaluru's startup SYNMR Chemicals signs MoU with HWB, Govt of India, to buy Heavy Water for Deuterated compounds
A first in India, Heavy Water Board (HWB), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India has signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with Bengaluru startup SYNMR Chemicals, for uninterrupted supply of Heavy Water for development of deuterium labeled compounds, NMR Solvents, d-labeled Active Pharma Ingredients, used in research and process development solutions in several high-tech research areas like cancer research, medical diagnostics (popular MRI scan), environmental pollution etc. MoU was signed at the 183rd board meeting of HWB and was executed by the chairman and CEO Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali in the presence of board members and joint secretary.
SYNMR Chemicals (P) Ltd is a startup company involved in research and process development activities in highly specialized niche area of chemistry called “stable isotope labelling”. SYNMR currently has 3 scientists, 1 marketing expert and 10 technicians working out of their startup lab at Yeshwanthpur, Bengaluru. Company has already begun supply of labelled compounds to premier institutes like Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IITs and prestigious companies like Syngene, Apotex etc. And started exporting to countries in South East Asia, China and South Africa.
Signing the MoU, Dr Sankar Iyer, Founder & CEO, SYNMR Chemicals, Said, “we are happy to be part of the Make In India initiative by Govt of India. Current collaboration with HWB will ensure deuterated compounds will now be easily available to Indian researchers and industries quickly at relatively lower cost. This initiative will not only relieve researchers from import delays and dependence on overseas manufacturers, also save on valuable foreign exchange”. He added, “The current demand for Deuterated compounds in India is met by imports from Europe and USA. This is mainly due to non-availability of indigenous supply of Heavy Water which is the key raw material and was out of bounds for Indian manufacturers. This gives immense potential for SYNMR to tap the huge labelled compound market”.
During signing of MoU, Dr. U. Kamachi, Chairman, HWB and Dr Sekar Basu, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said that department is ready to support SYNMR towards manufacture of deuterated compounds to fulfill their mission of make In India.
Today SYNMR is the only supplier from India who supplies a key D labelled intermediate used in manufacture of D labelled APIs. Many Pharmaceutical industries in India have taken advantage of the low cost and easy availability of this deuterated intermediate for their developmental work.
Read more news:
