IICT lets Sun Pharma develop its molecule

Hyderabad: The city-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology  (IICT) has globally licenced a compound that could be developed for medical use to Sun Pharma for Rs 240 crore. The compound could be used in the fields of oncology, ophthalmology and dermatology. “It is just the beginning of a new era,” said IICT director Dr S. Chandrasekhar.

The National Mol Bank has about 60,000 compounds of which only one was licenced to Sun Pharma. Three more compounds are in the process of being licenced and the deals could be closed in three months, he said.

Dr Chandrasekhar said drugs were discovered for a particular disease. “As science progresses, we discover a drug for a particular pathway rather than for a particular disease,”  he said.

“While doing reverse engineering we gained knowledge on the trade of making the product. Subsequently, we have  diverted our interest in discovering very selective new chemical entities/molecules,” the IICT director explained.

“We can understand mechanistic pathways by which they go and bind with biological systems,” he said and added that IICT had the expertise to pick selective molecules to address a particular path which has multiple implications in the human body."Sun Pharma liked the path by which the molecule was going and binding with a particular enzyme/target. They saw life in the molecule and invested in it,” Dr Chandrasekhar said.

“Our molecule can fit in everywhere. The cost of production of molecule is very low and it comes into the market it should be affordable. It is a simple organic molecule.” He said the molecule would go into Phase 1 trials in 20 months and there was a pretty good chance that it would hit the market in four to five years.

As per the agreement, IICT will get Rs 240 crore including upfront development, regulatory and sales milestone payments. Further, it will get payments through royalties on the net sales on the commercialisation of products developed using these patents.