India:Heavy Water Board to supply heavy water to SYNMR Chemicals

The Heavy Water Board (HWB) under the government’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), has signed an MoU to supply heavy water (DEUTERIUM oxide), a critical nuclear industry material, to Bangalore-based start-up SYNMR Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. in a BID to boost applications of heavy water for societal and industrial applications.

The MoU was signed by Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali, Chairman & Chief Executive, HWB and Dr. Sankar Iyer, President & CEO, SYNMR Chemicals. HWB will supply 20 tonnes of heavy water in a year for development of deuterium labelled compounds, NMR solvents, deuterium labelled active pharma ingredients, among others. Heavy water is a monopoly material of the Department of Atomic Energy, and mainly used for power generation in nuclear reactors.

The collaboration is expected to boost use of heavy water in non-nuclear applications and ensure self sufficiency and import substitution of deuterated compounds, according to Dr. Sekar Basu, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and Mr. M. A. Inbarasu, Joint Secretary (I&M), DAE. At present all deuterium labelled compounds including deuterated solvents for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) is being imported into India from USA and Europe.

Dr. Mudali informed that HWB is supporting Indian firms like SYNMR to ensure availability of deuterated compounds to domestic users at cost effective and affordable price. He expressed confidence that Indian expertise in this field will benefit the masses through affordable products developed by domestic pharmaceutical and other industries. “This is expected to encourage a drive towards R&D in the field of new formulations based on deuterated compounds, NMR solvents, APIs and deuterated new chemical entities (DNCEs),” he added.

SYNMR Chemicals’ Dr. Iyer informed that the collaboration will help make NMR solvents readily available at much cheaper price than imported ones. He added that the company, in association with HWB, is already manufacturing and supplying commercial quantities of deuterated compounds such as NMR solvents to research institutions across India as a key import substitution initiative.