Drug firm Ranbaxy Laboratories today said it has entered into a pact with US-based Pfenex Inc for developing biosimilars - drugs manufactured with the use of biotechnology.
“Under the terms of the agreement Pfenex is eligible to receive maintenance fees, milestone payments as well as royalty payments on any product sales derived from the agreement,” Ranbaxy Laboratories said in a statement.
Ranbaxy and Pfenex scientists will collaborate to develop production strains and commercial making of biosimilar product. They will also join hands in development of process that will be used to produce products.
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The agreement is for biosimilar products to be developed on ‘Pfenex Expression TechnologyT’ platform, a technology that uses recombinant protein expression of bacteria, pseudomonas.
According to information available, Pfenex currently has three biosimilar molecules at an advanced stage of process development and the company was looking for partners for commercially developing these molecules.
“Within our overall bio-therapeutic plan, the Pfenex technology will enable Ranbaxy to develop a high quality, cost effective product,” Ranbaxy CEO and Managing Director Ranbaxy Laboratories Atul Sobti said.
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In order to give a boost to its biopharmaceutical business, Ranbaxy had acquired 45 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based Zenotech Laboratories in 2007.
The Gurgaon-based company had repeatedly said it is looking at expanding its biosimilar portfolio.
In December last year, California-based protein producing company, Pfenex Inc was formally spun-out of The Dow Chemical Company as an independent venture backed entity.