Ranbaxy touts R&D abilities in new discovery pact

In what is being touted as an endorsement of India's maturing R&D abilities, Ranbaxy has expanded on its discovery pact with GlaxoSmithKline. In the original deal announced in 2003, researchers at the Indian company started working on anti-infective and anti-respiratory programs, focusing on chemistry optimization to the point of drug candidate selection. Under the revised agreement announced Tuesday, Ranbaxy will take new candidates for anti-infectives and metabolic, respiratory and oncology products up to Phase II after completing proof of concept studies. Ranbaxy stands to earn up to $100 million in milestones. The Indian company also has the right to co-commercialize any product it develops in India.

"By collaborating with Ranbaxy's talented R&D team, GSK will be able to develop more products for patients faster, and Ranbaxy will benefit from GSK's vast drug discovery and development experience," says Dr. Pradip Bhatnagar, Ranbaxy's vice president, new drug discovery research.

- check out the release [1]
- here's the report [2] on Ranbaxy from the Economic Times

ALSO: Ranbaxy has inked a deal with Zenotech Laboratories for G-CSF, its first biosimilar. Report [3]

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