Ranbaxy wraps up malaria drug trial

Ranbaxy has completed the second phase of the clinical trial of a revolutionary anti-malarial drug that could enable it to be the nation's first pharmaceutical company to launch a New Chemical Entity (NCE) globally.

"We are now creating a new chemical entity, a new medicine for malaria. We have just finished phase II clinical trials and we are doing a phase II for the combination of that product," CEO and Managing Director of Ranbaxy Laboratories Malvinder Mohan Singh said.

"Hopefully, if everything continues to be successful, by 2011, we shall have a New Chemical Entity (NCE) in the market and will probably be India's first NCE out globally," Singh said here.

Although anti-malarial drugs have a large market, it is a market with very limited resources.

With the challenges of drug resistance, poor health systems, lack of affordability, safe and convenient treatment options, malaria treatment represents one of the largest unmet medical needs, he said.

While two to three dozens new molecules are being developed for cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, diabetes and oncology, just two products have been launched in the last 30 years for malaria, he said.

"As a socially responsible organisation, we are going to leverage our capability to develop a NCE for malaria," Singh said.

Malaria claims the lives of more than one million people around the world every year. The majority of the victims are children under the age of five and pregnant women in developing countries.