The Hindu Business Line : Piramal’s diabetic drug enters clinical trials

Mumbai, May 13 Piramal Life Sciences Ltd has started its phase I clinical studies on a new, orally active glucose-lowering compound, P1736, in the Netherlands. The compound is being developed for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, a note from the company said.

The compound is different from drugs in the segment marketed at present, as it does not have adverse side effects on the liver function, blood plasma volume expansion or those related to weight gain, it added.

This is the sixth entity to enter clinical trials, said Dr Somesh Sharma, Managing Director, Piramal Life Sciences. Other molecules undergoing clinical trials at present include, a compound for multiple myeloma, another compound targeting metabolic diseases (through its tie-up with Eli Lilly) and three phyto-pharmaceuticals or drugs developed from standardised herbal extracts.

Regulatory approvals to start phase I trials on the prospective diabetes compound have been received in the Netherlands, the company said. Phase I studies involve the first human exposure of the prospective drug molecule.

As part of the phase I trial, the drug would be tested on 72 normal healthy volunteers enrolled in the study. The primary objective of the study is to determine the safety and tolerability of the compound prior to examining its efficacy in Type 2 diabetes patients, the company said.

An oral presentation of the pre-clinical data on this compound will be made at the forthcoming congress of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), to be convened in June at San Francisco, California, the company added.

Piramal Life Sciences Ltd is the recently demerged research arm of pharma-major Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (or the rechristened Piramal Healthcare). The research entity, slated to be listed by June, has around 300 scientists working on drug discovery and development.

With a pipeline of 14 compounds, Piramal Life Sciences also has drug discovery and development agreements with multinational drug majors Eli Lilly and Merck. The entity’s research efforts are focussed on therapeutic segments, including cancer, diabetes, inflammation and infectious diseases.

Nicholas Piramal shares were up 1.25 per cent on the BSE at Rs 345.05, on Tuesday.

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