In May, Sanofi inked a $613 million licensing deal with Indian drug maker Glenmark over a novel anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibody (mAb) GBR 500, which the Mumbai-based pharma had earlier snapped up from a small Canadian biotech firm. It is “fascinating” says William Haddad, CEO of New York–based Biogenerics, referring to what appears a neat example of globalization in drug discovery in which an Indian company sells profitably to a Western pharma a drug originally developed in the West. In 2007, Glenmark reportedly paid less than $1 million to Chromos Molecular Systems of Vancouver, British Columbia, for two mAbs along with Chromos' proprietary ACE System technology used for manufacturing them. During the next three years Glenmark invested around $17 million to develop one of them—GBR 500, a VLA-2 (α-2 β-1) integrin antagonist—as a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis. Paris-based Sanofi paid an upfront $50 million to develop the drug for treating Crohn's disease and other anti-inflammatory conditions. “The deal speaks volumes about Indian innovation capabilities,” says Sujay Shetty, of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Mumbai office. The euphoria should, however, be tempered by the fact that Glenmark's discovery efforts have suffered recent setbacks, including asthma drug oglemilast licensed to New York-based Forest Laboratories and a painkiller molecule to Eli Lilly, that failed in phase 2 trials. Shetty says past failures don't usually deter big pharma from collaborating with Indian firms. “It is only a matter of time before an original biologic from India enters the world market,” he adds.
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Jayaraman, K. Biologic Indian detour adds value. Nat Biotechnol 29, 561 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0711-561c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0711-561c