The drug was launched here on Sunday by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. 'BIOMAb-EGFR' will be available as a unit carton of four 10 ml vials and has been launched across the country.
Biocon's latest drug is engineered to specifically target and block the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) responsible for the proliferation of cancer cells. This drug application is to be combined with radiation therapy/chemotherapy in patients with positive expression of EGFR in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck cancer. During the clinical trials, 'BIOMAb-EGFR' showed an extensive proliferation inhibition activity in non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma (brain turmors).
The drug simultaneously is to be launched in India and in neighbouring countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan in phases. For European and US markets, company is taking the partnership route for which the partner is shortly to be announced.
Announcing the launch of 'BIOMAb-EGFR' for the Indian market, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD of Biocon, said: "This launch of magic bullet for cancer or immumotherapeutics spearheads company's foray into proprietary immumotherapeutics and joins the select league of monoclonal antibody developers globally."
While therapeutic monoconal antibodies have been introduced in the country by multi-national drug companies they are beyond the reach of a majority of cancer patients due to their probhibitive cost. Hence the company plans to price the drug 40% cheaper than the available durgs in the market, she added.
Explaining immunotherapeutics, Mazumdar-Shaw, said it is a new class of drugs that effectively address unmet needs, particularly in oncology and auto-immune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and lupus. Immunotherapy is the most recent form of treating such diseases where in use of antibodies and vaccines play a pivotal role in disease management.
'BIOMAb-EGFR' targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a type of protein found on the surface of both normal and cancer cells. Small proteins circulating in the blood called epidermal growth factors (EGF) bind with the EGFR. The binding action stimulates certain biological processes within the cell to promote cell growth in a controlled manner.
However, in many cancer cells EGFR is overproduced, leading to their uncontrolled and abnormal growth. This role of EGFR in malignant cell formation has promoted the development of biological agents, such as 'BIOMAb-EGFR' that disrupts and inhibits the EGFR singalling process.