Sanjeev Saxena is the CEO, co-founder and chairman of the board of Actis Biologics. Actis is a Delaware corporation based in Livermore, California USA Sanjeev was a founder and executive VP of ProGenix Biotech, a company focused in the contract development and manufacturing of recombinant proteins using mammalian and yeast cell lines. Prior to ProGenix Biotech, Sanjeev was one of the early founders of Sepragen Corporation, which focuses on the marketing of patented purification technology. He left Sepragen to help start Stereometrix (now called Scanis) a medical device company which focuses on early detection of breast cancer using CAD. Sanjeev returned to Sepragen to head-up international sales and quickly rose through the ranks to be responsible for worldwide sales and marketing of purification tools. In an e-mail interview with Raghu Balakrishnan of Pharmabiz, he discusses Actis' research pipeline and the future plans for India. Excerpts:
Biotherapeutics have revolutionized cancer care, globally. Do you think, bio drugs will continue to have an edge over conventional chem drugs in treating cancer?
In the early 80's there were no biotech drugs available. It was with Genentech and Amgen, the pioneers in biotechnology, we saw the birth of a new era in the field of medicine. Biotherapeutics are now slowly taking over the current market. A case in point to note is the introduction of Avastin from Genentech. The reason for this and other biotech drugs are that they address the cause, i.e. angiogenesis and not just a brut force killing of the cancer cells by chemo or radiation therapies. Having said this, we have learnt there is still a lot more that can be done. Biotechnology is the science which holds that key. Actis scientists are targeting all mechanisms of actions for cancer cells growth. We are attacking cancer at the mRNA level to circumvent the vascularisation process which leads to angiogenesis. We have also found that lack of some proteins or cytokines can cause a tumour to become malignant and hence Actis has taken an approach to fight cancer from multiple angles.
Apart from colon cancer, which are the other segments in oncology where Actis is currently working in? And what stages of development are they in?
Actis is currently developing therapies for various oncology segments. We have promising compounds in phase I, for breast cancer, lung cancer and glioblastoma using a platform technology that utilises mRNA. We also have a phase I compound in clinical development for liver cancer. Besides these compounds, Actis is developing three other preclinical compounds, IL21 (for melanoma, lymphoma, renal cell carcinoma), MSP36 (for breast and prostate cancers) and mutated IgFBP3 (for treatment of prostate and lung cancers). Actis is also actively evaluating a few other molecules to add into our pipeline.
How do new technology platforms enable Actis to develop cancer treatments with less toxicity and more specificity as mentioned in the company's mission statement?
Actis, as mentioned earlier, is using the collective knowledge of some of the pioneers and experience of over 20 years of biotech research. Pioneers like Dr. French Anderson (Father of Gene Therapy), Dr. Alan Venook (considered to be among the top oncologist in the world from UCSF) and other advisors have been instrumental in the selection of compounds with low toxicity levels. But over and above that, a lot of compounds which we are developing have target specificity. Today's screening technology and assays etc. help in better identification of targets and localised therapies.
When is Actis expecting to commercially launch colorectal cancer molecule that has been currently licensed out from Chiron and Sirna? What could be the potential of the drug?
We expect to have a commercial launch of the molecules Aconc001 by end of year 2007 in India and the following year in Europe and then in the US. The colorectal market is expected to be $5bn worldwide, however, Actis is targeting a segment which is a patients population with high levels of Vegfr1 and for this we expect a market of approximately $3 bn worldwide.
At present, Actis is having tie-ups with Indian firms like Innovasynth for sourcing nucleosides and Shantha Biotechnics for clinical studies. What went behind choosing these firms as partners?
We currently have memorandum of understanding with Innovasynth and Shantha Bio under which we are negotiating our agreements with both companies. We also have other companies that have expressed an interest in tying up with Actis. Negotiations are still underway with both these and other parties. But to answer your question as to how we choose a partner, the main criteria is the interest in the field of oncology and level of expertise in house and outside. Their level of influence (field force for distribution of product) is also important. Hence, there are numerous criteria which go into this selection.
What's your comment on the Indian biotherapeutics market? Does Actis have any plan to enter Indian pharma market on its own in the near future?
I believe the market for Biotherapeutics in India is growing at a very rapid rate with the growth of its middle class, thanks to the IT industry and the liberal policies of the government which has encouraged investment and growth. I feel that the future for biotech in India is very strong and India will turn out to be the next biotech hub.