Dr Reddy's Laboratories Thursday announced it had entered a co-development and commercialisation agreement with Denmark-based Rheoscience A/S for the joint development of a drug to treat diabetes.
Under the pact, Rheoscience will fund all costs associated with the Phase-III clinical trials of balaglitazone (DRF 2593), a partial PPAR-gamma agonist, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.Dr Reddy's will pay Rheoscience a pre-determined amount towards its share of development costs. According to a statement from Dr Reddy's, Rheoscience will retain marketing rights for the European Union and China while Dr Reddy's will retain marketing rights for the US and the rest of the world.
"We are excited about our first co-development deal for the joint development and commercialisation of balaglitazone. This deal provides Dr Reddy's with an opportunity to commercialise NCEs in key markets thereby transforming Dr Reddy's into an innovation driven business," said G.V. Prasad, CEO of Dr Reddy's Laboratories.
"This deal together with the announcement of Perlecan (Wednesday) reflects our commitment to accelerate the discovery efforts as well as clinical development programmes toward realising our vision of becoming a discovery-led global pharmaceutical company," he said.
The deal with Rheoscience came a day after Dr Reddy's announced the formation of India's first integrated drug development company - Perlecan Pharma Private Limited - with equity capital commitment of $52.5 million from India's leading venture capital investors, Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership Mauritius Limited and ICICI Venture Funds Management Company and Dr Reddy's.
Perlecan Pharma will be engaged in clinical development and out-licensing of new chemical entity (NCE) assets. Its early priorities will be to advance the clinical development of NCE assets received from Dr Reddy's and thereafter seek out-licensing, co-development or joint commercialisation opportunities.
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