Dr Reddy's Laboratories, a second largest Indian pharma company with consolidated net sales of Rs.9,675 crore, has received manufacturing contract from Beverly, Massachusett-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, Cellceutix Corporation for a new drug candidate Prurisol, for the treatment of psoriasis. Celleceutix is a a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering small molecule drugs for hard to treat diseases.

Dr. Reddy’s has extensive knowledge of this technology and has expressed excitement to work on this project for Cellceutix. Dr. Reddy’s will manufacture Prurisol for oral dosing at levels sufficient for the company’s planned phase 2/3 clinical trials. Currently in meetings with clinical sites in Europe and the US, the company intends to begin the clinical trials upon completion of the manufacturing.

Leo Ehrlich, CEO at Cellceutix said, “We have great expectations for this drug because it performed amazingly in lab studies. Our research showed Prurisol to be much more effective than methotrexate, a standard of care treatment for advanced psoriasis, as there was no recurrence of psoriasis on the animals. Visually, it eliminated all indications of psoriasis. We wanted to use only a world class manufacturer and Dr. Reddy’s is internationally-renowned for their excellence in research, manufacturing and distribution.”

“As we continue to emerge as a leading drug developer, we are committed to working with companies and organizations that have high standards and a strong reputation. Dr Reddy’s is a perfect fit for Prurisol. Prurisol has a complex process for synthesizing and manufacturing in oral form and we are very pleased to have Dr Reddy’s handling those formulations.” he added.

Cellceutix has previously disclosed images of mice treated with Prurisol demonstrating its effectiveness as compared to methotrexate, a standard care treatment for psoriasis today.

According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is the most prevalent autoimmune disease in the United States, affecting as many as 7.5 million people, or 2.2 per cent of the US population, with associated costs of $11.25 billion annually. According to the World Psoriasis Day consortium, as many as 125 million people worldwide (2 to 3 per cent of the Earth’s population) have psoriasis.