Drugmaker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, fully owned stepdown subsidiary Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services, not-for-profit research and development organisation Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and DNDi India Foundation have signed an MoU to explore collaboration for developing and marketing novel and improved drugs for treatment of identified neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
They will also seek to work towards ensuring access of the drugs at affordable prices to patients in need, particularly those in LMICs (low and middle-income countries) that are disproportionately affected by the NTDs. The MoU aims to bring together DNDi’s expertise in NTDs with the scientific, technical and commercial capabilities of APSL and Dr. Reddy’s.
“We will look to leverage the strengths and capabilities of all the parties to explore new drugs with the intention of making them available in India and in countries with high disease burden in these NTDs,” Dr. Reddy's CEO – API and Services Deepak Sapra said.
Neglected tropical diseases are a diverse group of 20 conditions that are mainly prevalent in tropical areas. Globally, 1.7 billion people are affected by NTDs such as mycetoma, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis (kala azar), Chagas disease and river blindness, Dr. Reddy’s said in a release on Tuesday.
DNDi Executive Director Bernard Pecoul said “we are excited to explore the possibility of a strategic long-term collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to develop affordable and effective therapeutics for neglected populations. India is hailed as the ‘pharmacy of the world’ and a potential partnership with one of its pharmaceutical giants can help hundreds of thousands of neglected patients to access the drugs they need.”
“This potential partnership aims to leverage each other’s expertise and strengths while working together to develop new treatments... the selection will be made from DNDi’s portfolio of new chemical entities in different stages of development,” said Kavita Singh, Director of DNDi South Asia.
Aurigene CEO Akhil Ravi said “we are pleased to have the opportunity to explore a partnership with DNDi and use our robust manufacturing capabilities and CDMO services to serve a large population around the world in the NTDs segment.”
