Fermenta Biotech Ltd.: Sustainably Delivering Value-Added Products

Incorporated under the aegis of DIL Ltd., Fermenta Biotech Limited was established with a mission to produce high quality niche products, used in every line of pharmaceutical, food and fine chemical manufacturing. Over the years, it has invested in innovation and concentrated research efforts, making it a dependable and sustainable solutions provider in bio-catalysis, pharmaceutical ingredients and environmental solutions.

With a combination of the best in class technologies and global collaborations, Fermenta aims to play a major role in the fight against hidden hunger and malnutrition by eliminating micronutrient deficiency.

The Journey of Fermenta Biotech

On May 1^st 1951, Dr. DVK Raju incorporated ‘International Franchises Private Limited’ a company specializing in toll manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. In 1963, the company established financial cum technical collaborations with N.V. Philips-Duphar, Amsterdam and The Crookes Laboratories, UK to form the Joint Venture Crookes-Interfran Limited.

The company changed its name to Duphar-Interfran Ltd. in 1971 and initiated the manufacture of Vitamin D3 and other Bulk Drugs.

In 1986, its subsidiary, Fermenta Biotech Ltd., was established which specialized in the production of enzymes for the production of beta-lactam antibiotics. In 1987, its manufacturing facility in Kullu commenced and in 2011, Fermenta’s second manufacturing was set-up in Dahej, Gujarat.

With a vision to create a system and nurture it to reach a state of functioning and enabling it to acquire a state of long-term stability and growth, Fermenta has kept up its standard to a world class level over the years. Discipline, honesty, mutual respect, perseverance, and result-orientation are the company’s core values that that are reinforced by its culture and employees.

Supplying Sunshine Globally

An estimated one billion people worldwide are deficient in Vitamin D¹, while in India itself, 80-90% of the population suffers from low levels of the sunshine vitamin².

Fermenta is the one of the leading players in the global Vitamin D3 market and the only manufacturer of Vitamin D3 in South East Asia. A significant portion of Fermenta’s topline is generated by this business. With more than three decades of experience, it provides stabilized and bioavailable feed grade material as well as pharmaceutical grade Vitamin D.

Fermenta’s Core Competencies

Pioneering: Fermenta has pioneered the use of proprietary technology to manufacture Vitamin D3 in India.

Diverse Applications: Fermenta’s Vitamin D caters to a variety of applications such as pharmaceuticals, dietary and nutritional supplements, food, feed, veterinary and rodenticides.

Market Shaper: Being the only manufacturer of Vitamin D3 in India, Fermenta has carried out unique public awareness initiative, Vitamin D Guru, which is a digital platform to enhance knowledge about the significance of Vitamin D for health and wellness.

Innovation: Fermenta delivers integrated biotechnology solutions through its enzyme portfolio across the biopharmaceutical product life-cycle. Its expertise ranges from microbiology to genetic engineering, fermentation to enzyme purification, enzyme immobilization to enzymatic synthesis and polymer beads development to scale up synthesis.

Customer Proximity: Providing customers with globally benchmarked products at competitive prices and customized services is what has set Fermenta apart. In addition, it is also a dependable supplier to over 300 customers across more than 50 countries with a global distribution network.

Innovation Focused R&D

Over the years, Fermenta has invested consistently in research and development projects and created a world class research centre in Thane. Fermenta’s R&D is divided into three areas of research:

1. API where research is directed at quality improvement / cost minimization for existing processes as well as development of new ingredients
2. Biotech which focuses on enzyme technology as well as genetic engineering, biotransformation, and molecular biology
3. Formulation Development that focuses on developing products tailored to applications.

Fermenta has numerous national and international patents to its name. The most recent ones being:

• Patent no.: WO 2019/053742 A1: Solvent free process for extraction of cholesterol from milk fat (2019)
• Patent no.: WO 2019/053744 A1: Improved process for extraction of cholesterol from fish oil waste residue (2019)

Experienced and Visionary Leadership

Prashant Nagre serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Fermenta Biotech Limited. He holds a Degree in Pharmacy along with a Master in Management Sciences degree and is a Gold Medalist Post Graduate Diploma holder in International Trade from the prestigious Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi.

With a career spanning 26 years, Prashant has comprehensive experience across various spheres encompassing Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Human and Animal Nutrition domains. He has been associated with Fermenta for almost a decade, leading strategy and overseeing day to day operations of all three business verticals viz. Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Environmental Solutions. He also focuses on further building and developing the various strengths of Fermenta i.e. Manufacturing, R&D and allied activities. He forms a core member of the product development team and is also responsible for creating and nurturing large business account relationships. Known for his meticulous planning skills, Prashant adds impetus to timely deliveries of products, quality orientation and human resource development within the company.

Awards & Accreditations

Some of the recent awards the company has received are:

• India Pharma Awards 2018: Fermenta was adjudged the winner in three categories at the India Pharma Awards 2018.
• Excellence in CSR for companies with turnover less than INR 500 Cr.
• Pharma International Excellence
• Excellence in Export Promotion

These prestigious awards were hosted during the Pharma Week at CPhI India, which is recognized as South Asia’s largest pharmaceutical event. These awards recognize thought leadership on a global scale, by celebrating the eminence of top innovators and champions from various Pharma verticals.

• Hindustan Times Thane Ratna Award 2019: Fermenta received this award for the category of Healthcare, Pharma and Biotech Manufacturing. This is the first time that Hindustan Times has conducted these awards, to honor organizations across industries and individuals from all walks of life, who are located in and around Thane city.
• World HRD Congress 2018: Fermenta has bagged three awards at the prestigious World HRD Congress, hosted by The Global Employer Branding Institute, as follows:
• Fermenta was one of the winners in the National Best Employer Brands 2018, in the Pharmaceutical sector. The nominations featured the top organizations across the nation, which are exemplary in HR and used marketing communications effectively for Human Resources Development.
• Fermenta’s CEO, Mr. Prashant Nagre, was felicitated with the Business Leader of the Year accolade.
• Fermenta’s HR Head, Mr. V.K. Raveendranath, was nominated amongst the Top 101 HR Minds in India.

• Pride of Maharashtra Award 2018: Fermenta’s CEO, Mr. Prashant Nagre, received the prestigious Pride of Maharashtra Award 2018 for Best CEO of the Year in the category Manufacturing – Pharmaceuticals. The Pride of Maharashtra awards, initiated by the Maharashtra Industrial and Economic Development Association (MIEDA)
• Abbott Strategic Business Partner award 2018: Fermenta has won the preferred supplier award for the seventh year in a row.
• Received the Great Place to Work® certification for April 2019 to March 2020 – a reflection of the inclusiveness, engagement, and trust that are ingrained in Fermenta’s ethos and culture

Fermenta’s manufacturing facilities in Kullu and Dahej are certificated by global accreditations:

Fermenta supplies CEP grade materials certified by EDQM (European Directorate for Quality of Medicines) and are approved by the US FDA for food & dietary supplement applications.

Its products are manufactured in WHO GMP/ISO 9001:2015/ ISO 14001:2015/HACCP certified manufacturing facilities with state-of-the-art technology and quality norms. The food safety approvals, such as FSSC22000, FSMA and BRC, received by Fermenta’s facilities have helped make inroads in the large and relatively untapped global food premix market. Fermenta’s Vitamin D is certified by the American Vegetarian Association and Vegetarian Society UK, as well as for HALAL and KOSHER compliance by respective certifying authorities.

CSR – A Way of Life at Fermenta

Fermenta intends to adopt CSR as a strategic tool for sustainable growth of the company, its stakeholders and society at a large. Fermenta’s internal events are integrated with its social partners to instill a sense of awareness in the culture and engage employees with its CSR activities.

To quote its CSR policy, “Fermenta seeks to be a good corporate citizen in everything that it does,” asserts Prashant.  Some of its on-going CSR Activities are:

• Providing E-learning resources to schools in remote locations
• Empowering local communities and rural development measures
• Aiding schools for special children
• Contributing towards corneal transplant and squint correction surgeries as well as Braille kits for the visually impaired in association with the National Association for the Blind (NAB)

Apart from the above CSR activities, Fermenta is a proud partner of Vitamin Angels, a non-profit organization providing life changing vitamins to populations in need. Last year, Fermenta’s support allowed Vitamin Angels to reach 40,000 additional mothers and children.

Fermenta Biotech: Looking Ahead

Fermenta aims to expand its presence by manufacturing products that address the growing preventive health sector, and position itself as a one-stop destination for nutraceutical ingredients with a story.

“Fermenta intends to make a foray in the nutraceutical ingredients space in order to bring in affordable and sustainable nutrition.” says Prashant. He continues, “Fermenta’s consistent growth over the last few years can be attributed to its capacity building, expertise in technology and operational excellence measures. We are committed to delivering value-added products while focusing on customer requirements as well as engaging our human capital.”

Fermenta plans to leverage innovative technologies through strategic alliances with global partners for a range of technologies encompassing microencapsulation and water-soluble variants to bring in products with a competitive edge that offer better solubility, robust stability, improved palatability and increased bioavailability.

In January 2019, the company executed a 99-year lease agreement for acquisition of land aggregating to about 40,000 Sq M from the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) authority, Ankleshwar, Sayakha, for future expansion and new projects

Building on its experience in manufacturing of Vitamin D, Fermenta is now all set to venture into the manufacture of nutraceutical ingredients, thereby fulfilling the need for an integrated player that offers key nutritional ingredients to manufacturers of nutraceutical formulations. Fermenta intends to offer pre-formulations including other fat-soluble vitamins and their value-added variants, novel antioxidants, pre and pro-biotics and customized premixes to the domestic and international market with key applications in pharmaceuticals, dietary and nutritional supplements as well as food fortification.

References:

1. Holick MF, Chen TC. Vitamin D deficiency a worldwide problem with health consequences. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008; 87:10805–68.
2. P Aparna, S Muthathal, Baridalyne Nongkynrih, Sanjeev Kumar Gupta Vitamin D deficiency in India J Family Med Prim Care. 2018 Mar-Apr; 7(2): 324–330