Mumbai-based drugmaker Lupin Ltd will add two more potential drugs for clinical trials (studies on human) in the next six months.
May spin off its research and development arm
MUMBAI: Mumbai-based drugmaker Lupin Ltd will add two more potential drugs for clinical trials (studies on human) in the next six months. Currently, the company has four drugs in various stages of clinical studies.
One of the drugs Lupin is researching will be used in treatment of Type 2 diabetes and the other for anti-rheumatoid arthritis.
Currently, both the drugs are in a drug-development stage called pre-clinical. In this stage, the target compound goes through multiple studies such as determining toxicity levels.
In an interview, Kamal Sharma, managing director, Lupin, told DNA Money: “Two of our molecules will reach phase I of clinical trials in the next four to six months.”
Among the other four molecules undergoing clinical trials, two are herbal drugs used in treatment of migraine and psoriasis. The other two are anti-psoriasis and anti-tuberculosis drugs. To fund its research, Lupin has partnered the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) for the anti-migraine and anti-psoriasis drug research. DST has committed over 10 crore for these projects.
For the new and other existing projects, Lupin is considering to make its research and development (R&D) division in a separate company. “Though we have not reached any conclusion we are reviewing whether we need to spin off our R&D,” Sharma said.
Many other domestic pharmaceutical companies have either separated their R&D into a separate company and sold shares to the public or are in the process of doing so. Sun pharmaceutical has listed its R&D division as SPARC (Sun Pharmaceuticals Advanced Research Centre) on stock exchanges. Nicholas Piramal, Ranbaxy and Glenmark are in the process of doing so.
”R&D demergers are primarily done for three purposes—saving tax, de-risking the R&D and for funds. We are evaluating whether we require either or combination of these benefits,” Sharma said.
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