The Hindu Business Line : Nicholas Piramal ties up for cancer, diabetes research

Mumbai June 10 Two basic research programmes to screen patient samples in the diabetes and cancer segments have been initiated by drugmaker Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. The aim is to develop biomarkers that could eventually lead to a targeted new drug.

The Mumbai-based company recently forged a cancer-related alliance with Chennai's Apollo Hospitals Group for the molecular profiling of tumors, said Dr Arun Balakrishnan, NPIL's Vice-President - Screening and Biotechnology.

NPIL will do a "blind" study of the tumour samples provided by the hospital and compare the data with the hospital's patient response to conventional therapy.

Biomarkers could be an external substance or a feature in the human body that helps indicate a pattern in the patient's response to treatment. A tool used for target identification, the biomarker technology is getting more refined over the years and it improves the chance of discovering a drug, observes a senior researcher with a clinical research organisation.

A similar study is also being finalised with the diabetology group of Chennai's Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute.

This study would help evaluate specific markers for diabetes, he said.

NPIL's two basic research programmes are in the early phase of drug discovery.

Domestic drugmakers have been increasingly investing in research into drug discovery and development, after India started respecting product patents from 2005.

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