Jubilant Organosys has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Washington, DC with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and Southern Research Institute for a joint venture (JV). The JV will focus on leveraging their collective innovation and enabling technologies in the areas of oncology, metabolic disease and infectious diseases. It is a unique US-India arbitraged and leveraged partnership that will accelerate the development of affordable therapies for patients worldwide.
As per the MoU the JV will select the most promising biological targets discovered by biomedical researchers at UAB, Southern Research and Jubilant. It will undertake developing new drugs around these targets through work performed at UAB and Southern Research, and Jubilant in India. Use early research data to secure federal funding to create new research jobs. Develop drugs through pre-clinical and or phase-2 clinical trials to maximize value to potential licensees, and securing partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry. The JV will license drugs to the pharmaceutical industry with revenues distributed to investment participants in milestone payments and royalty streams.
Commenting on the development Shyam S Bhartia, chairman and managing director, and Hari S Bhartia, co-chairman and managing director, Jubilant Organosys, said, "This novel academic and industrial collaboration demonstrates our commitment to partner with globally renowned academia in order to identify and deliver affordable innovation and healthcare solutions to the patients worldwide. We are happy to join hands with UAB and Southern Research Institute, known for its strengths in the areas of oncology, metabolic disease and infectious diseases. The collective innovation capabilities of this partnership further augments our mission to be the most innovative Drug Discovery and Development group in India, accelerating global drug development."
Jubilant, through subsidiaries like Biosys, Chemsys and Clinsys, has developed strong partnerships in the area of research with leading academic institutions to support them in translation of early stage science and with innovative pharmaceutical companies to accelerate their drug discovery programmes.
UAB receives more than US$ 400 million annually in research grants and contracts and ranks in the top 25 nationally in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding; it is a rich source of biological targets for drug development.
"UAB has tremendous strength in research that identifies the targets . usually proteins . that contribute to the disease process, whether it is cancer or diabetes, which develop when our bodies malfunction, or virus or bacterial infection that invades from outside," said Richard B Marchase, UAB vice president for Research and Economic Development. "Southern Research and Jubilant have the expertise, scientific workforce, and the equipment to take those findings and move them rapidly through the drug discovery and testing phases that lead to new commercially viable products."
Southern Research has earned worldwide acclaim for its success translating basic research into drugs that can be used to treat human illness, having discovered and helped move seven FDA-approved cancer drugs to market, with five more drugs in late-stage pre-clinical and early clinical studies.
"Southern Research has proven that it can help move promising drug candidates into the marketplace. our clients' drugs as well as own discoveries," said John A 'Jack' Secrist III, president and CEO of Southern Research Institute. "What we are creating through this joint venture is a powerful new drug discovery engine that will leverage research strengths in Alabama, as well as our collective industry strengths, to drive products to market."