Nicholas Piramal India Ltd will be shortly undertaking clinical trials of its new oncology molecule developed at its research facility. The new chemical entity named 'P 276' has shown promising invitro, invivo results in animal studies, and is currently undergoing advanced toxicology studies in the US.

The company has so far spent about $ 5 million to develop this potential lead, revealed Dr. Somesh D Sharma, chief scientific officer, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd.

"This will be a broad-spectrum anti-cancer molecule that is expected to address range of cancers like colorectal, prostrate, lung, breast and even leukaemia. The molecule is designed to work through CDK4 (cyklin-dependent kinase 4) pathways, one of the key targets in today's cancer treatment. So far the studies are promising and we are expecting to begin clinical trials in the next 6 to 9 months," said Dr. Sharma.

According to him, the study is unique, as very few such drugs have been discovered so far to target a spectrum of cancers at one go.

NPIL will prefer India to conduct human trials for the molecule. "If there are no regulatory bottlenecks, India will be our first choice to conduct trials. We will have tie-ups with cancer authorities overseas, who will design and monitor our Indian trials, ensuring complete credibility. If things don't work, we may choose US, Canada or Europe for trials," he said.

It is understood that companies like Pfizer, Novartis and UK-based Cyclacel are also involved in cancer research targeting CDK 4 pathways.

Dr. Sharma joined NPIL a few months back. He has more than three decades of experience in pharmaceutical research and has worked with pharma firms like S2 Pharmaceuticals, Calyx Therapeutics Inc, Anosys Inc. He holds 14 issued patents, more than 30 pending applications, and over 100 scientific publications to his credit.

NPIL will be shifting its entire research team to its new R&D centre in Goregaon, Mumbai on August 15. The facility has infrastructure to conduct research on pharma, biotech and herbal under a single roof. "We will be recruiting about 100 scientific personnel in the next 12-18 months for our R&D centre," said Dr. Sharma.