Ranbaxy to develop anti-infectives with Merck KGaA
Ranbaxy Laboratories, of India, has signed a strategic product development agreement with Merck KGaA for drug discovery and clinical development collaboration in the anti-infectives field beginning this year.
Ranbaxy Laboratories, of India, has signed a strategic product development agreement with Merck KGaA for drug discovery and clinical development collaboration in the anti-infectives field beginning this year.
The partners will work to develop clinically validated anti-bacterial and anti-fungal drug candidates. Ranbaxy will carry out drug discovery and clinical development through Phase II clinical trials, and Merck will then develop and commercialise the drug candidates. The collaboration will be for five years initially, to be extended by agreement.
The agreement is in line with Ranbaxy's recent negotiations for collaborative research in various segments with other pharma companies both in India and overseas. It is similar to Ranbaxy's existing collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, signed in 2003, under which Ranbaxy conducted the optimisation chemistry required to progress drug leads to the stage of candidate selection.
Merck has also signed other such deals in India, including the recent agreement with Nicholas Piramal for oncology drugs, and its agreement with Tata Group-controlled Advinus for metabolic disorders.
