Advinus will be starting the clinical trials for its novel diabetic drug developed in house. This is an advanced oral formulation to treat type-II diabetes, Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya, CEO and managing director, Advinus Therapeutics told Pharmabiz.

This is the first molecule discovered and developed by the company which is expected to offer a major relief to diabetic patients in the country. He refused to divulge any more details but stated that approval from the Drugs Control General of India (DCGI) is being sought for conduct of clinical trials.

The company which kicked off operations as a Tata Enterprises arm in 2006, focuses on drug discovery in the area of metabolic disorders, inflammatory diseases and neglected diseases such as malaria, TB, Leshmaniasis, dengue fever and leprosy. "As part of our metabolic disorder focus, we have now developed a novel drug to treat diabetes which is different from those available," said Dr Barbhaiya.

Right from the start, Advinus has pursued the partnership path to focus on identifying new molecules from early-stage screening to the first steps of preclinical assessment. It has collaborated with Merck to develop clinically validated drug candidates in metabolic diseases. Along with Merck, Advinus had retained the right to advance the most promising of these candidates into late-stage clinical trials.

Other partnerships are with US-based Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc (OMJPI), which is a member of Johnson and Johnson Family of Companies for drug discovery and early clinical development up to complete phase-2a studies.

With Genzyme Corp, a global leader in biotechnology and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a not-for-profit virtual research and development (R&D) organization, Advinus is looking at developing new, improved treatments for specific high risk malaria patient groups. The research with the Swiss-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a not-for-profit R&D organization will see the development of novel therapies for visceral leishmaniasis or kala azar.

"We are on track with all these projects and milestone payments have started coming in," said Dr Barbhaiya. Commenting on the future prospects of the company during the global economic slowdown, Dr Barbhaiya said that there are major efforts by global companies to scale up outsourcing from India. The recession has been creating lucrative opportunities for some markets while it mars the future growth prospects. As revenues are impacted and work force is reduced, outsourcing jobs from high quality and economical locations are being looked at. This is where Indian pharma-biotech units can capitalize. "We can offer fantastic cost reduction and time line deliverables in research which includes drug development and advanced pre-clinical assignments, clinical trials besides manufacture," pointed out Dr Barbhaiya.