The Drugs Development Promotion Board, under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has carried out a rescue act by offering external R&D support for a prestigious ongoing research project on a sustained release TB drug. The DDPB support has come at a time when the research work on the TB drug had almost stalled due to the non-availability of an imported polymer, which is essential for the production of the drug.

The DDPB will now fund a separate project to develop an indigenous substitute for the nano-encapsulation polymer, a coating of which can bring in sustained release properties to the TB drug.

The DDPB has decided to give Rs 50 lakh to IIT, Kanpur to develop the polymer through reverse engineering. While the government is to bear most of the capital expenditure, majority of the recurring expenses will be funded by the industrial partner -the Life Care Innovations, Gurgaon. The project is primarily aimed at developing the polymer to be utilized by scientists at PGI, Chandigarh, to come out with the TB drug.

According to DDPB sources, the present support is given to an "additional component" of an existing collaborative research project between Life Care Innovations and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGI), Chandigarh for developing a novel sustained release drug delivery system for treatment of TB.

The new system is expected to prove to be of immense help to the mostly rural TB patient population in the country as non-adherence to the treatment, which is a prolonged drug regime today, is considered to be the major problem that nullifies the effects of the treatment given to them. The research is intended to develop a system where the drug can be given once in a fortnight. The DST had sanctioned Rs 70 lakh for the research last year.

The three-year project, planned with a view to have the new drug at pre-clinical stage within three years. The indigenous substitute became a necessity after the German company, which manufactured the polymer stopped its production recently.