Syngene International, a subsidiary of Indian biotech Biocon, and US drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) have opened a research-and-development centre in Bangalore.

The 18,000-square-metre facility, which employs 270 researchers, helps advance BMS's discovery and early drug-development efforts. It will house 360 researchers by the end of the year and plans to ramp that number up to 450.

Work at the facility will span the drug discovery and development process. Construction began in March 2007, when BMS and Biocon agreed to focus on integrated drug discovery and development capabilities at Syngene.