Amrita Inc., recently incorporated in the US, is planning to form a joint venture pharma-biotech company in India to develop innovative cancer drugs for the global market. The company will have an Indian company as a majority investor.

The company will work on to commercialise the microbial pathogen-based technologies of Prof Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, the renowned US-based Indian-born biotechnologist.

Prof Chakrabarty who was in Bangalore told Pharmabiz that the primary focus of the company would be oncology drug development (cervical and lung cancers). The broad-spectrum of interest will evolve around multiple diseases using bacterial pathogens. He did not disclose other details except that the Indian arm of Amrita Therapeutics would take off in 2007 with a likely initial investment of Rs 30 crore, mostly from the Indian partner.

The Indian process could be finalized in the next 60-90 days, according to Susan K Finston, CEO, Amrita Therapeutics and chief of Finston Consulting LLC Washington. The research will be spearheaded by Prof Chakrabarty, who has also co-founded CDG Therapeutics, Chicago. He is the professor, department of microbiology and immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, USA.

Prof Chakrabarty said that his vision is to set up a company putting in resources to start a top class laboratory in India to develop new generation drugs, conduct clinical trials and eventually design drugs for the international markets. He has been toying with idea for the last five years and the present Indian scenario which supports innovative drug research initiatives because of the Patent Regime and the forward looking government policies have led his idea to hopefully take shape in the country if talks with the Indian counterpart culminates on a positive note.

The research of the potential drug from the Amrita Therapeutics stables would be path-breaking novel candidate utilized from bacterial proteins. To start with the company will work on a drug for the treatment of cervical cancer and later undertake research on lung cancer, informed Prof Chakrabarty.

These drugs will revolutionize treatment modalities for these dreaded diseases, stated Finston. The reason for short-listing India for this project was the availability of bacterial pathogens and the vast scientific pool. Amrita Therapeutics scientists' from both US and India will undertake exchange programme and advanced training on research would also be imparted under Prof Chakrabarty guidance.

Currently, there are no drugs for cervical cancer treatment. But Merck has developed a cervical cancer vaccine for prevention and is undergoing human trials in India, which is one of the global study centres. Around 40,000 women are diagnosed annually. The majority of the victims are from India and the developing world. It is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). The two main types of cervical cancer are squamous cell carcinomas, which is a common form where 90 per cent women suffer and the Adenocarcinoma type is found in 10 percent of the cases.