Zydus Cadila (Cadila Healthcare) has entered into a new drug discovery and development agreement with US based Eli Lilly and Company to develop potential new drugs to cure cardiovascular diseases.
This is the first major drug discovery deal in the past nine months by India’s drug companies, since Tata’s funded drug discovery firm Advinus Therapeutics signed a deal with Ortho-McNeil-Janssen to develop two undisclosed targets. Prior to that, in January-September 2008, the Indian drug research space witnessed about 10 major deals.
Zydus will work to discover and develop potential molecules against a novel drug target, primarily in the area of cardiovascular research. This will include lead identification and optimization, pre-clinical trials and clinical trials up to second phase of human clinical trials. Lilly will provide chemical starting points as well as expertise, besides regulatory support. Zydus will receive potential milestone payments of up to $300 million and royalty on sales during commercialisation.
“We have built strong discovery and development capabilities in the cardiometabolic disease area and this is an opportunity to unite efforts, share expertise, complement strenghts and develop new potential cardiovascular therapies,” said Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director of Zydus Cadila.
The deal helped share prices of Zydus Cadila to go up 5.6 per cent, from Rs 256.90 at close of trading on Friday last week to Rs271.30 at close of trading in the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE), today.
Eli Lilly already has established similar drug development deals in India, including a drug development joint venture with Jubilant Organosys.
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In March 2008, it had signed a major disovery alliance with Suven Lifesciences to develop drugs for central nervious system disorders. In January 2007, the company also signed a deal with Piramal Healthcare to develop and commercialise a select group of Eli Lilly’s pre-clinical drug candidates spanning multiple therapeutic areas.
Big pharmaceutical companies are off-shoring part of their drug research to countries like India for cost advantages. India’s contract research industry is estimated to grow as $1.3 billion by 2011-12 and to $3 billion by 2015 from the $400 million industry in 2007-08, according to a YES Bank and Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India(OPPI) analysis.