INSIGHTS

At Eight Roads, we have backed multiple companies with manufacturing at their core – across both chemistry-led and biology-driven platforms. We have observed India gradually climb up the manufacturing complexity curve – from successes in chemistry-led manufacturing to what we see as the next frontier: biomanufacturing. With the world increasingly focused on scalable, sustainable, and safer alternatives, India is strongly positioned to play a leading role on the back of its fast emerging biomanufacturing capabilities – exemplified by the progress of Laurus Bio

Biology meets engineering: the power of synthetic biology

Think of synthetic biology as biology with an engineering and manufacturing mindset. Imagine nature’s building blocks – cells, genes, enzymes – as parts in a toolkit. Synthetic biology is about redesigning or rearranging these parts to build something new, better, and more useful.

Although some recent applications are novel, synthetic biology builds on decades of progress in DNA sequencing and gene editing. Today, its impact goes far beyond therapeutics. Its promise in non-therapeutic applications stems from:

• The growing need to develop and manufacture products sustainably, offering substitutes for those that are synthetically derived
• The demand for scalable production of materials that are difficult to source from nature

Laurus Bio: a global provider of biomanufacturing services and products to multiple industries

Laurus Bio is a precision fermentation driven biomanufacturing platform. The company’s manufacturing platform provides sustainable alternatives to materials that have traditionally been extracted from nature, derived from animals, or chemically synthesized.

Laurus Bio’s two primary business segments, comprise of:

• CDMO services: offering end-to-end contract development and manufacturing for non-therapeutic products across industries including food and nutrition, personal care, materials, apparel, etc. From strain engineering to commercial-scale manufacturing, Laurus Bio helps customers lower costs, achieve price parity and scale faster
• Animal-origin-free (AOF) products: supplying a growing portfolio of animal-free ingredients critical to biopharmaceutical manufacturing

Through these offerings, Laurus Bio has tackled key challenges in the field – including cost competitiveness, scalability, price parity, and supply reliability.

Making biopharmaceuticals safer and efficient – synthetic biology’s role

In the biopharmaceuticals sector, we’re witnessing a significant shift away from animal-derived products, especially those used as aids in manufacturing therapeutic products. This transition is driven by two key factors:

• Enhanced safety by eliminating the risk of contamination
• Faster regulatory clearance, making it easier for products to reach the market

Today, pharmaceutical companies are exploring new ways to improve manufacturing processes for active ingredients and synthetic biology is at the core of this transformation. Biocatalysts, created using synthetic biology, are being adopted because they:

• Deliver higher yields
• Lower energy consumption
• Reduce environmental impact

These advances are reshaping how drugs are made thus aligning biopharma’s goals with broader efficiency objectives.

Looking beyond biopharma: the expanding role of synthetic biology

Across industries – from food and nutrition to personal care, specialty chemicals, materials, and agriculture – synthetic biology is unlocking new possibilities. For example:

• Vanillin, a core vanilla flavour ingredient, is now produced sustainably through biomanufacturing
• Hyaluronic acid, widely used in personal care and pharmaceuticals, is another success story
• Squalene, an ingredient in skincare, is today primarily produced via precision fermentation
• In fragrance industry, ingredients such as santalol (traditionally extracted from sandalwood trees) and various other terpenes are increasingly produced through biomanufacturing

Despite the recent reshuffle in sustainability frameworks, the push for greener solutions remains strong. Both corporations and governments continue to advance their climate and supply chain goals, and biomanufacturing is central to that progress.

The precision fermentation supply challenge – and India opportunity

Precision fermentation uses engineered microorganisms to produce specific products under controlled conditions. But today’s supply landscape is capacity-constrained:

• Only 35% of global facilities offer true commercial-scale fermentation (≥100KL fermenters)
• Just 30% offer critical pilot-scale capabilities (30-100KL fermenters)
• And many facilities lack essential downstream processing capabilities

Majority of this capacity is concentrated in Western Europe and North America, where higher costs limit competitiveness. Meanwhile, companies are actively diversifying away from China, creating a significant opportunity for India to emerge as a preferred biomanufacturing destination.

Why we believe in Laurus Bio

At Eight Roads, we have known and partnered with Laurus Labs and Laurus Bio (formerly Richcore Lifesciences) over many years. We have seen firsthand how Laurus Bio has:

• Built strong manufacturing and R&D capabilities
• Delivered commercial success across both its CDMO services and AOF product portfolio
• Over the past few years, Laurus Bio has delivered industry-leading revenue growth and built a highly profitable platform

Their progress reflects India’s potential to lead the next wave of global biomanufacturing. Laurus Bio’s achievements inspire confidence and we’re proud to support their journey as they continue to serve global markets with cutting-edge solutions.

Biomanufacturing has a long journey ahead, and companies like Laurus Bio will be at the heart of turning its promise into reality.

At Eight Roads, we are excited to be part of this journey, and we look forward to what lies ahead.