Dabur Pharma today launched a new indigenously developed anti-cancer drug delivery system, Nanoxel, and plans to introduce it in the highly lucrative US and European markets within the next 18-36 months.The company plans to start clinical trials of Nanoxel, a nanotechnology based novel drug delivery system (NDDS) system for the widely used anti-cancer treatment drug Paclitaxel, in the US and Europe."We expect to start clinical trials for Nanoxel in the US and Europe very soon and are hoping to launch it there in the next 18-36 months," Anand Burman, chairman of Dabur Pharma, said here.The company, which also manufactures generic Paclitaxel, recently got USFDA's approval to market it in the US, where the drug has an estimated size of $400 million.Ajay Vij, COO of Dabur Pharma, said the company would also target the market with Nanoxel once it gets the approval from the USFDA.In the Indian market, Nanoxel would be priced higher than the existing forms of NDDS for Paclitaxel, the market size of which is around 8-11 kg per annum and the company is planning to promote the new drug in this space, Burman said."Nanoxel removes all the negative properties of existing NDDS like water insolubility, toxicity and other side effects and is the first commercial application of nanotechnology in pharmaceuticals," Rama Mukherjee, president R&D of Dabur Research Foundation, said.Asked if the company planned to discontinue the existing anti-cancer NDDS, Burman said, Dabur Pharma would continue selling the product as long as there was a demand in the market.
