The Chennai-based Orchid's 50:50 joint venture with the US-based Bexel Pharmaceuticals Inc is working on four select leads in two therapeutic areas which are in the pre-clinical stage, besides its BLX-1002 unique anti-diabetes molecule readying for out licensing within the next few months.
Dr. C B Rao, deputy managing director of Orchid told Pharmabiz that the JV is currently developing select leads for a unique Non Cox- 2 Inhibitor anti-inflammatory drug and a novel anti-obesity drug. Apart from this, under the Orchid's platform, Orchid's in-house drug discovery centre is developing an Oxazolidinone anti-infective and a Cox-2 anti-inflammatory drug. All the four leads are in the pre-clinical stage. Orchid and Bexel and the JV plans to move all their respective leads to phase I clinical trials progressively over the next few months.
Besides, Orchid is working on four leads in the anti-inflammatory segment and six in the anti-infection category. It hopes to take at least one each lead molecules to the phase I stage during the current fiscal, said Dr. Rao.
Talking about the unique and high potential anti-diabetes molecule BLX-1002 developed by the JV, Dr. Rao said it has completed phase I human trials and is undergoing phase II (a) limited patient efficacy trial in Europe. Based on the phase I (a) and (b) results, the molecule had received approval from the Independent Ethics Committee (IEC) to proceed with trials in Europe on diabetic patients to establish further safety of the molecule with possible efficacy profiles. The clinical trials are likely to be completed within the next three months, and the JV hopes to out-license the molecule thereafter, said Rao.
He said Orchid spent about Rs 50 crore, about 6.9 per cent of the sales turnover, on R&D last year (including R&D expenditure for Bexel JV), and had been investing 4-5 per cent of turnover on R&D. Orchid has one of the highest spends in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. The company has flexible options on future investments related to research and development, and will continue to increase R&D outlay in future, said Dr. Rao.