Biocon may launch arthritis drug

INDIA ECONOMIC SUMMIT 2006

The drug could prove to be a very lucrative opportunity for the company, says its CMD, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Leading Indian biotech company Biocon Ltd said on Monday that it expects to launch a new anti-arthritis drug in the next three to four years in the Indian market, which could prove to be a multi-billion dollar opportunity for the company.

"We are almost through with the Phase II clinical trials of the new molecule (T1H) and in 18 months we expect to start the Phase III trials," Biocon Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said at the India Economic Summit on Monday.

The Phase II clinical trials for the molecule have been done in India, but in the phase III the company is looking at global trials, she added.

Biocon, which recently launched a new cancer drug, is also looking at about $100 million of revenue from the cancer drug in the next 10 years.

"We are optimistic about the cancer drug and we are expecting the revenues to come mainly from the East and Middle Asia," she added.

The company recently launched BIOMAb-EGFR, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody-based drug for treating solid tumours of epithelial origin, such as head and neck cancers.