Cadila Pharmaceuticals, based in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India announced a strategic partnership and tie up with Sweden
based firm, NovaSAID AB,research based company developing compounds for
treatment of inflammatory pain and conditions like Rheumatoid Arthritis in
Karolinska Development, with the aim of developing new treatment methods for
inflammation and pain noticed in disorders such as Rheumatoid Arthritis. Based
on the agreement, all the revenue that will be generated from the sale as well
as marketing of products in countries such as India, Africa and Middle East
will be retained by Cadila Pharmaceuticals and the net
sale in the other countries and locations will be shared by both.
Both the companies have
collaborated for the development of preclinical as well as clinical drugs. The
drug candidates are developed by NovaSAID at Cadila Pharmaceuticals' facility
located in Ahmedabad. As part of the partnership, Cadila Pharmaceuticals will
be bearing all the costs that will be associated with the development program
through to Phase II. According to TorbjornBjerke, Chief Executive Officer,
Karolinska Development, this particular partnership and collaboration offers an
opportunity to the shareholders of NovaSAID to take the organisation ahead with
availability of great resources and incurring no further costs. Furthermore,
the expertise of drug development of Cadila Pharmaceuticals matches with the
scientific excellence of NovaSAID. This provides a solid platform to develop
more superior and novel drugs. The successful development of such drugs will
open up opportunities of striking major and valuable deals in USA and European
territories for the benefit of Karolinska Development's shareholders.
Rajiv I Modi, Chairman and
Managing Director, Cadila Pharmaceuticals remarked in agreement with
TorbjornBjerke that this partnership will combine scientific expertise of
NovaSAID and the drug capabilities of Cadila Pharmaceuticals will work towards
creating new and novel solutions in the treatment process attending to patients
suffering from pain and inflammation which require therapies to a great extent.
This drug will add value to the track record of Cadila Pharmaceuticals other
innovative drugs such as Polycap (five in one pill for prevention and treatment
of cardiac diseases), Risorine (an innovative treatment solution for
Tuberculosis) and Mycidac-C (world's first active immunotherapy drug for
treatment of lung cancer.
Regarding the development of a
drug that is aimed at making treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis and other
inflammation and pain related disorders, the idea is to reduce the risks of
side effects such as myocardial infarction and gastric ulcers that often takes
place with the intake of the other drugs. NovaSAID's drug candidates will
target inclusion of an enzyme called microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1
(mPGES-1) which is a critically important mediator of pain and inflammation and
is known to reduce such side effects theoretically. Per-Johan Jakobsson,
Co-Founder and Board Director, NovaSAID and Associate Professor, Karolinska
Institutet added, mPGES-1 constitutes an important target for drug discovery
and development of analgetic as well as anti-inflammatory drug. Apart from
being used for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, the effective enzyme
inhibitors may also address a broad range of other diseases with concomitant
inflammation such as atherosclerosis, stroke and cancer.