Company Watch

Argenta and Dr Reddy identify drug candidate for chronic respiratory diseases

Our News Bureau - Mumbai

Argenta Discovery, a respiratory drug discovery and development company, and Dr Reddy's Laboratories has announced a major milestone in their development programme targeting a novel disease-modifying approach to treat the underlying cause of certain chronic respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe asthma. Dr Christopher Ashton, CEO, Argenta, said, "Just 18 months after signing the deal with Dr Reddy's, the team has already selected the first candidate drug to proceed into pre-clinical development. We are very excited by the exceptional progress this programme has made within such a short timeframe. With GMP material already manufactured, we are on target to enter phase I in mid-2008 and phase II in 2009. We believe we are first-in-class for this inhaled anti-inflammatory approach to treat chronic respiratory disease."

Under the terms of the licensing agreement announced in February 2006, the two are collaborating to identify clinical candidates against an undisclosed but proven anti-inflammatory drug target and to develop these candidates to phase II proof-of-concept. Ashton added, "The programme is also likely to deliver high quality back-up candidates in the near future. This rapid progress towards the clinic is further validation that Argenta's innovative 'fast forward' strategy for the rapid development of new respiratory medicines against well-validated, precedented drug targets has achieved significant momentum. We are building a strong pipeline and have the funds to take all our programmes as far as clinical proof-of-concept."