Orchid to put 4 new molecules through human trials by Dec

Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals' drug discovery programme expects four of its molecules to reach human trials stage by December 2006.

All the four molecules are currently being put through pre-clinical trials on animals, said K Raghavendra Rao, managing director.

Two of the four molecules (one to combat obesity and the other, inflammation) are being put through pre-clinical trials by Orchid's drug discovery joint venture with the American company Bexel. The other two molecules (in the areas of oncology and inflammation) are being developed by Orchid's own drug discovery team.

While the four molecules undergo pre-clinical trials, Orchid soon expects to find a multinational pharma company to develop an anti-diabetic molecule that was discovered by its joint venture with Bexel.

The anti-diabetic molecule successfully finished a part of human trials ( up to Phase 2 a) in Europe in November 2003. Orchid has been searching for a partner who could support the next stage of development (At present, Indian pharma companies do not have financial strength to see a new molecule all the way through).

Rao said that the anti-diabetic molecule also showed properties that indicated it could be used to treat more ailments than what was first expected. Additional studies are being carried out on the molecule and its 'proper positioning' would be known by June this year, he added.

Orchid, on its own, and through its joint venture, plans to restrict its drug discovery program to five segments: infection, oncology, inflammation, obesity and diabetes.

Other than the drug discovery program, Orchid also carries out research and development on finding new processes to support its attempt to sell drugs in developed markets such as US.

Rao said that, on an average, Orchid's annual spend on R&D is likely to be around 7 per cent of the sales.

In absolute terms, the spend on R&D is likely to increase every year because the company's sales has begun to increase following recent approvals from the US regulator to sell its drugs there.

In the first nine months of 2005-06, Orchid's sales stood at Rs 647 crore (Rs 510 crore), a growth of 27 per cent over the previous year.

Orchid expects the revenue from developed markets to account for 80 per cent in five years, about twice the present level of 40 per cent. About 10 years ago, around 90 per cent of the company's revenue came from bulk drug sales in China.

The increase in revenue from developed markets would be driven by more drug launches there. Rao said that as the process gathered pace, Orchid would look at acquiring an overseas company in 2007-08 to handle the distribution and marketing mainly for Europe and Japan.