Swedish pharmaceutical company Karo Bio and Ahmedabad based pharma major Zydus Cadila have agreed to extend their research collaboration with the purpose to discover and develop novel anti-inflammatory drug compounds.
In early 2008, Karo Bio and the Indian pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila initiated a three-year collaboration. They have now agreed to extend the collaboration for another year. The aim of the collaboration is to design novel, selective glucocorticoids for the treatment of inflammatory diseases that have as powerful anti-inflammatory properties as conventional glucocorticoid steroids but with significantly reduced side effects
'Both parties carry their own costs within the collaboration program and share potential rewards.'. Karo Bio said in a statement here. Preclinical evaluation is ongoing for the identification of the most suitable compounds for further development into drug candidates.
Glucocorticoids are used to treat many different inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowels disease, psoriasis and asthma which together represent a market of over $10 billion. These anti-inflammatory agents for long term use could, however, lead to the development of unwanted side effects like diabetes and osteoporosis. The collaboration between Karo Bio and Zydus Cadila aims to develop drugs that improve treatments by lowering side effects.
"To date, the collaboration has generated several novel compounds that may have potential as drug candidates. We have decided to extend our collaboration for another year to allow us to continue to combine the strengths of Karo Bio and Zydus Cadila to jointly study these further", says Karo Bio’s CEO Fredrik Lindgren.
Karo Bio runs a number of development projects within the indication areas cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuropsychiatry, inflammatory conditions, autoimmune diseases, cancer and women’s health.
