Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), the ailing public sector drug company, is planning to give priority for contract research in its revival plans. The company may enter into R&D collaborations on commercial basis with multinational clinical research organisations as part of its growth strategy. The R&D centre of IDPL is to be developed as one of the best drug development centres of the country soon.

Disclosing this to Pharmabiz company sources said that the IDPL's R&D centre had turned the focus to several multinational companies. "Some of them have already visited our centre. Talks are soon to begin to identify areas of potential collaborative research agreements. If the R&D centre of IDPL had previously utilised its entire resources for its own purposes, the revamped company will make it a business proposition by taking up contract research," sources said.

Calling IDPL R&D centre as the mother laboratory of Indian drug R&D, company sources expressed confidence of turning it once again the premier drug R&D set up of the country. The IDPL may soon go for a major recruitment drive thereby inducting fresh talent into its research division.

It should be noted that the R&D centre of IDPL had brought out three drug compounds a few years ago. While the compound (IDPH-8261) that has completed all the three pre-marketing phases of clinical trails was a potential NSAID drug with analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti- arthritic properties, other two were a new triazolo benzothiazine derivative (IDPH-791) with pre-clinically confirmed central muscle relaxation potency and a triazole derivative (IDPH-85184) with proved anti-depressant properties. The new thrust for basic research is likely to throw upon new challenges to the unit.

As Pharmabiz had reported earlier, that National Institute of Pharmaceuticals and Education Research (NIPER) had recently been asked to take over the reigns of the IDPL R&D centre Hyderabad. The Central Government had also sanctioned Rs 1 crore for renovation and upkeep of the building and laboratory facilities in the R&D centre.

As part of the revival plan of the IDPL, the government had released Rs 3 crore for redeveloping the three plants located at Rishikesh, Gurgaon and Chennai. The cleaning of the plants has commenced and would be made Schedule M compliant by 31.3.2006. A sum of Rs 1 crore had also been sanctioned and released for the Muzzafarpur plant.