AstraZeneca, an innovative research and development multinational firm, has established two key R&D facilities in Bangalore. With a focus to develop innovative medicine for tuberculosis (TB) and other diseases, the firm has established the Discovery Research Centre as a part of its global Infection Innovative Medicines Unit.
Offering an integrated approach to discovery, development and marketing of medicines, the firm is fast growing with a turnover of Rs.360 crore during 2009. Focusing primarily on combating diseases prevailing in the developing world, the firm is collaborating with leading names across the world.
In India, AstraZeneca has done commendable work to discover better drugs for TB. “We’ve delivered a candidate drug to treat TB in both its drug sensitive and drug resistant forms which also offers the potential to shorten the duration of therapy. The new candidate drug is now being tested in humans.” said Balganesh Tanjore, head research and VP-discovery, AstraZeneca.
“We are focusing on six therapeutic areas which include cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, oncology, infection, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation. We are world leaders in those fields with products like Onglyza (diabetes) and Symbicort (respiratory). We want to push the boundaries of medical science for the benefit of patients around the world,” he said.
Though there are a lot many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the country, not many have tilted towards innovative research. Many of them are involved in contract manufacturing and outsourcing.
“With increased globalization Indian pharma industry has entered a new phase and has made tremendous progress giving neck tight competition to the global players. Though its strength lies in huge talent pool and low manufacturing and R&D costs, still the country is lagging behind just because of insufficient funding for innovative research. As more and more newer diseases are emerging, most of which are found to be drug resistant, it’s high time to counter such problems with a coordinated effort among the global firms. And India’s role is crucial at this juncture as it is recognized as an apt hub for thriving and nurturing industries with innovative ideas and discovering newer areas of research,” said Balganesh.
“If one sees from R&D perspective, the advent of more multinationals to India and Asian region proves that the environment for innovations is rapidly evolving. Proper funding from public and private partners will definitely enable us to tap the potential for discovering better innovate drugs in the future,” he opined.
Partnering and collaborations will be an important part which is a central plank for R&D strategy for India. The local Indian companies working with AstraZenca include Syngene, Dishman Pharma, Anthem Bio and Piramal Healthcare. Globally the firm has 14 major R&D centres in eight countries and invests US$ 4 billion in R&D every year.
in addition to TB research, the team at Bangalore is also working on antibacterial discovery with close collaborations of R&D in USA. The Bangalore unit employs 110 scientists and plays a key role in the development of candidate drugs from discovery through to early stage clinical trials.