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AstraZeneca to focus on finding new drug for TB in India

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

AstraZeneca Plc, the UK-based global pharmaceutical major, on Friday announced that it would embark on an ambitious research and development project to find a new treatment for tuberculosis so as to fight the dreaded killer disease.

In order to facilitate the innovative TB initiative from its $10-million Indian R&D facility in Bangalore, the $15.8-billion parent company will be investing $5-million annually for the next five years to support the research activities.

Though AztraZeneca has recently acquired a controlling stake in the Bangalore-based Astra-IDL Ltd, and has been renamed as AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd, the Indian R&D lab will be its wholly owned subsidiary, reporting directly to the headquarters in London.

As an integral part of the parent company's research into infectious diseases, the new center of excellence will focus on TB research program and other diseases found in the developing world. AstraZeneca's chief scientist Barry Furr will be the head of the project evaluation group to spearhead the lab.

Indian subsidiary's managing director Lars Walan disclosed here that the R&D center would be using cutting-edge technology as Microarray to identify and study new targets for drug discovery. The facility is also equipped with the latest drug discovery technology such as microbial genomics, medium throughput screening, and combinatorial chemistry towards identifying new chemical molecules.

"We will focus on understanding the mechanism by which the TB microbe evades the immune system and the prevailing treatments. With no effective drug for its treatment over the last 40 years, we have an opportunity to discover a new and efficacious treatment for TB, which is afflicting 16 million people worldwide, including around 2.2 million new cases in India every year," Walan stated.

According to research head Tanjore Balganesh, the centre will be hiring more scientists over the next five years from India as well as abroad. "Currently, 65 scientists are already working in the lab. With Bangalore being the academic center of India, we have an excellent opportunity to attract more top class scientists to work with us on this challenging program," he said.

Being one among the company's nine global R&D sites, the Bangalore facility will also be collaborating with leading academicians working on cutting edge of TB research, as well as other AstraZeneca scientists with expertise in infection, drug discovery and development, based at Boston in the US, and Cheshire in the UK.

"AstraZeneca will be the only pharmaceutical company in the world to recognize this area of medical need with research program in India totally dedicated to TB," said Kumud Sampath, head of operations for Indian R&D center.

With a daily spending of $8-million on R&D alone in its nine labs the world over, AstraZeneca provides effective products designed to fight disease in critical areas of medical need such as cancer, cardiovascular, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, infection, pain control, and anesthesia, and respiratory.

"Our total R&D spending in 2000 was around $2.6 billion," claimed Dame Bridget Ogilvie, who is a non-executive member of the AstraZeneca board and chairman of the company's malaria venture.

With majority stake in the Indian subsidiary, AstraZeneca holds 51% of the equity, whose paid-up capital is Rs 50 million. The rest of the equity is being held by FIIs (4 per cent), FIs (1.5 per cent), and the public.

For the fiscal year 2000-01, the AstraZeneca Pharma India reported a net sales of Rs 1.08 billion with a net profit of Rs 143 million, as against Rs 945 million in gross revenue and Rs 138 million in net income for the corresponding period of the previous financial year (1999-2000).

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