Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (Ranbaxy) has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi, in the area of New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR).

Under the agreement, DST will provide financial support by way of soft loans to Ranbaxy, to undertake NDDR activity, a Ranbaxy press release said.

Commenting on the development, Dr Pradip Bhatnagar, vice president, NDDR, Ranbaxy, said, "This public-private partnership will enable research oriented companies like Ranbaxy to explore and develop innovative medicines at affordable costs and thereby combat diseases more effectively."

Commenting on the role of DST to Pharma sector, Dr Laxman Prasad, advisor, technology development and transfer, mentioned that there are several programmes in this department exclusively to encourage basic research across several areas of Science and Technology including Pharma area. However, DPRP was launched to encourage public-private-partnership R&D projects. Government has expanded this programme since 2004 to extend loans at a simple interest of 3 per cent to pharma industry R&D projects.

About 25 Pharma companies have taken advantage by availing loans. He expressed his concern that in spite of the best publicity about this programme, the response from pharma industry is yet to become full swing.

Two NDDR programmes in the therapeutic areas of anti-infective and inflammation have been identified under the agreement with Ranbaxy. The funding by DST will enable Ranbaxy to conduct the pre-clinical toxicity studies/safety studies of the company's, NCEs in these areas and take the molecules in to human phase-I clinical trials. Favourable results from these studies would facilitate the company's molecule's progression to market.

DST has implemented a scheme under the aegis of "Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Research Programme" (DPRP) that provides loans to in-house R&D laboratories and Scientific and Industrial Research Organisations (SIROs).