Stempeutics Research, a group company of Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), has signed an out-licensing deal with Alkem Laboratories for Stempeucel product for osteoarthritis indication. The out licensing deal comprises of upfront payment, royalties and various regulatory & sales based milestones payments.
 
Under this agreement, Alkem will get the exclusive marketing rights for Stempeucel in India for Osteoarthritis with Stempeutics manufacturing & supplying the product to Alkem. The product is expected to be available in Indian market by 2020 after undergoing the phase 3 Clinical trial in India, which is expected to commence in 2018.
 
Earlier Stempeutics successfully completed a phase 2 clinical trial in India & the outcomes have been published in the peer-reviewed indexed journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, UK.

Phase 2 trial data showed that a single intra articular injection of Stempeucel with 25 million cell dose was well tolerated and had positive effects on long term pain reduction and overall improvement in WOMAC scores which measures Pain, Stiffness and Physical Function of the patient.

“We are pleased to be associated with Stempeutics and the Manipal Group in bringing the next generation of biologics to address unmet medical needs in India. Stempeucel offers a novel treatment approach to the physicians in India to treat Osteoarthritis Knee and will substantially improve the quality of life of millions of patients suffering from this painful disease,” Sandeep Singh, MD,  Alkem.

“Regenerative medicine is a rapidly emerging area of biomedical research with enormous therapeutic potential worldwide. Stempeucel in partnership with Stempeutics will mark Alkem’s foray into this futuristic segment, further strengthening our pain management franchise”, said  Satyen Manikani, vice president, Strategy & Business Development of Alkem.

According to BN Manohar, CEO,  Stempeutics , current  OA treatments are more symptomatic in nature whereas Stempeucel drug has a potential to address the root cause of the disease. In Phase III trial we are going to administer Stempeucel using ultrasound guidance and use new MRI techniques called T2 mapping to assess the quality of articular cartilage and also to assess the quantitative analyses of articular cartilage. We are extremely happy to collaborate with Alkem in developing Stempeucel for OA treatment.

“Allogeneic Stem Cell therapy currently dominates the Global Stem Cells Market with a share of almost 63% compared to the autologous market (37%). The potential for stem cell therapy market in India is approx. US$ 540 million and expected to grow rapidly. While the opportunity is good, it is important that the stem cell therapy is affordable for the common man. Therefore our focus is on to develop innovative production techniques for up scaling and making the product affordable”, said Dr Raviraja, Director Business Development, Stempeutics.