Company Watch

Three IND approvals in DRL's basket

Our News Bureau - Mumbai

Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) announced that the first human subjects were successfully dosed in a phase I study with DRL 17822, a selective inhibitor of CETP, for the treatment of dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and associated cardiovascular diseases.

The compound shows potent elevation in HDL-C and reduction of atherosclerotic plaques in animals, and has a clean safety profile in preclinical studies. The two other Investigational New Drugs (IND's) are for the treatment of COPD and dyslipidemia.

DRL also announced that effective July 1, 2009 the drug discovery operations at Hyderabad will be absorbed into Aurigene, a wholly owned independent subsidiary of the company. Aurigene is a partnership based drug discovery biotech headquartered in Bangalore.

Talking about the reorganisation, G V Prasad, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "We have been working at delivering sustained growth with profitability to significantly improve shareholder returns. As we prioritise our company-wide research and development spending, we will now be placing greatest emphasis on R&D activities that can have a significant impact on near-term earnings, while not losing focus on long-term interests of the company."

In addition, DRL will be creating a new group to focus on proprietary products development, which will be responsible for building the proprietary, branded R&D portfolio in collaboration with various partners and service providers. This organisation will work with Aurigene and other discovery biotechs to ensure effective management of the ongoing and future drug discovery programs. All the existing intellectual property will be owned and managed by this new unit. This group will also have responsibility for the development portfolio and the company's differentiated formulations efforts.

As part of the reorganisation, the company will close the Atlanta research facility in the US.

As per company's press release, Aurigene, as discovery research will report into CSN Murthy, CEO Aurigene. Dr Rajinder Kumar, President - R&D and commercialisation will stepping down to pursue interests beyond DRL once the transition is completed, but will continue to advise the proprietary products group on various matters beyond July 1, 2009.