Dr Reddy's Laboratories has reached an alliance with Boston Scientific, a Canadian stent manufacturing company, for testing its new compound for restenosis, described as reclogging of arteries after surgeries like angioplasty.

The drug had been developed by Dr Reddy's US Therapeutics Inc (RUSTI), a wholly owned biopharmaceutical subsidiary located in Atlanta and is dedicated to the discovery and design of novel therapeutics. The drug is currently in advanced pre-clinical stage.

According to sources in Dr Reddy's at Hyderabad, Boston Scientific would conduct `in vivo' pre-clinical studies on animals using Dr Reddy's compound. Dr Reddy's was in talks with several stent manufacturing companies before reaching an agreement with the Canadian company.

The drug is for coating stents that are used for angioplasty in patients with coronary heart disease (CAD). A stent a stainless steel spring-like tube inserted in the artery of a heart patient to open the blockages in the arteries. Stents are now being coated with drugs to prevent restenosis, or recurrence of blockages in arteries. Studies conducted on patients worldwide show that the drug-coated stents are capable of bringing down the rate of restenosis to around 0.5 per cent.

RUSTI is reported to have discovered a novel molecular target responsible for the three leading causes of retenosis and a drug to act on that target.

The focus therapy areas for RUSTI are cardio-vascular, oncology, lipid metabolism, inflammation and diabetes. RUSTI has also developed a gene that could be used as a novel target for the treatment of diabetes.