The Hindu Business Line : Dr Reddy's teams up with Auckland varsity

Researchers at the University of Auckland have teamed up with Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad to undertake trials of a new Polypill that could provide a vastly simpler and effective treatment for heart disease.

The global trial would involve 600 people, recruited from five continents. They would be drawn from New Zealand, India, Australia, Brazil, China, South Africa, the US and the UK. The trial will start in 2007 and will feature people with a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

The Polypill will contain — aspirin, a statin to lower cholesterol and two blood pressure drugs, which are widely used at present. The trial is expected to confirm that these medicines are safe and tolerable when taken together as well as effective when combined in one fixed-dose pill.

All the medicines in the pill are no longer covered by patents, so it will be cheap to produce and more affordable for people in developing countries. It is likely to cost only a few dollars a month in developing countries, according to a press release issued here today.

The investments

The Health Research Council of New Zealand has invested $350,000 to support the overall co-ordination of the trial and recruitment in New Zealand. Dr Reddy's will invest $7.5 million in developing the polypill and providing supplies for clinical trials globally.

In the study to be funded by a grant of $1.7 million from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Dr Reddy's would provide the pills for the trial. The company has more than matched the investment in terms of pill development, manufacture and bio-equivalence testing.

Dr Reddy's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Satish Reddy, said "There are two notable aspects of the collaboration. The first being the outstanding clinical development expertise and global credibility of Prof Rodgers and his team and second, the commitment to make the medicine affordable".

The study is being led by Prof Anthony Rodgers of the University of Auckland's clinical trials research unit. Prof Rodgers is a recognized world leader in clinical trials and has been an advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Prof Rodgers and other New Zealand researchers are also conducting a separate polypill trial in New Zealand with people at high risk of heart attack and stroke. It would involve 300 Maori and 300 non-Maoris.