The Hindu Business Line : Cadila Healthcare, US co tie up to develop anaemia drug

Ahmedabad, Jan. 24 Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila) and Prolong Pharmaceuticals Inc, a US-based venture-backed drug delivery research and development company, on Thursday announced their collaboration for the development of a next generation therapeutic protein, known as PEG-EPO, for the treatment of severe anaemia.

Severe anaemia, is a condition wherein the haemoglobin (Hb) level, or number of circulating red blood cells (RBCs), is significantly reduced.

This is common in chronic renal failure (CRF), cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, some chronic inflammatory diseases, heart failure, surgical settings and critically ill patients.

The first generation drug, EPO, did wonders to the treatment of this condition. However, new advances in therapy can improve EPO’s therapeutic profile, offer greater convenience, and lower treatment costs.

PEG-EPO promises to be a third generation drug, Zydus said in a statement here.

The Zydus-Prolong pact seeks to increase productivity in drug development of this next generation therapeutic protein by leveraging the combined strengths of both companies. The joint development will help in developing an optimised drug candidate with improved therapeutic properties. Both partners will also be equitably sharing risk and reward for the collaborative programme.

Zydus Cadila will leverage its expertise in carrying out a focused drug development programme, starting from pre-clinical candidate selection, filing of the Investigational New Drug, undertaking pre-clinical studies and human clinical trials and marketing it in mutually agreed upon territories globally.

The collaborative programme will bring an edge to Zydus’ global biologics strategy with the introduction of an improved biologic product.

Dr Abe Abuchowski, President and COO of Prolong, said the collaboration will also enable Prolong to capitalise on the cost-effective drug development capabilities that India offers.

YES Bank was the strategic advisor to Prolong for the transaction. Mr Pankaj Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, Zydus Cadila, said the deal marks Zydus’s foray into the area of novel improved biologicals.

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