In a major breakthrough, scientists at Indus Biotech Private Ltd, premier drug discovery company, has developed IND02, a drug candidate, which could help in taming HIV/ AIDs and will prove to be a boon for over six million patients suffering from HIV in India and over 40 million globally.

The company has already conducted an approved clinical study in humans where the drug has demonstrated its efficacy. More importantly Indus has achieved the distinction of being the country's first drug discovery company to have obtained IND approval from the US FDA to start human clinical trials for this drug in America. The company has also made an IND submission with DCGI in India and is awaiting its clearance to start a large-scale study locally.

Highlighting the mechanism of action of IND02, Sunil Bhaskaran, the MD of Indus Biotech, said, “In simple terms, this drug converts an HIV patient into what is called in scientific circles as an 'HIV Controller' and people can well live out their normal life span with the disease, without the concerns of the high cost of treatment or the dramatic shortening of their life span.”

“Today, one in 300 HIV patients is a 'Natural HIV Controller', who is able to block the progression of the disease by managing the virus and protecting the immune cells. IND02 is drug candidate that is an 'enabler that converts the HIV patient to a HIV Controller,” he said.

“While other drugs attack the virus directly, we look at the human body to prevent replication of the virus. We strengthen the host defense factor,” he added

Besides the scientific breakthrough, what is of equal significance is that the economics of this therapy is very affordable. Bhaskaran termed it as 'a first world cure at third world cost'.

According to him botanical drugs will not only open up avenues for new therapies for indications, but also use a slightly different process of discovery that addresses problems plaguing the drug industry today such as the exorbitant cost of discovery, extended time to market and the pressure of drying pipelines.

Having incredible plant bio-diversity with a rich tradition of botanical drugs (Ayurveda, Unani, etc), India has a major opportunity in the botanical drugs market, he added.