Cadila Pharmaceuticals collaborates with NovaSAID to develop drugs for Arthritis

CadilaPharmaceuticals, 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.