Research & Development
Ranbaxy views its R&D capabilities as a vital component of its business strategy that will provide the company with a sustainable, long-term competitive advantage. The company today has a pool of 1,200 scientists who are engaged in path-breaking research.
The robust R&D environment within the company for both drug discovery & development reflects the Company's commitment to be a leader in the generics space and offer value added formulations based on the Company's Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS) and New Chemical Entity (NCE) research outcomes.
NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS (NDDS)
The NDDS research at Ranbaxy focuses on maximizing the overall therapeutic and commercial value of commonly prescribed pharmaceutical formulations by enhancing their performance and reducing their adverse event profile. Such innovation also helps to improve the overall patient convenience and compliance
The company's NDDS focus is mainly on the development of New Drug Applications (NDA) / Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) of oral controlled- release products for the regulated markets. The Company's first significant international success using the NDDS technology platform came in September 1999, when Ranbaxy licensed its once-a-day Ciprofloxacin formulation on a worldwide basis to a multinational Company.
Ranbaxy's in-house NDDS programs are primarily focused on the oral segment. Inhalation (patented devices) and trans-dermal (patented adhesive polymers) programs are also being pursued through collaborations.
In the oral NDDS space, Ranbaxy has already developed four platform technologies namely Gastro Retentive, Modified Matrix, Multiparticulate and AeroGel. Several products leveraging these technologies have been successfully developed.
NEW DRUG DISCOVERY RESEARCH (NDDR)
The Company’s NDDR program focuses on select therapeutic segments of Infectious diseases, Metabolic diseases, Inflammatory/ Respiratory disease and Oncology. Presently, the Company has 8-10 programs in the area of NDDR including one NCE in Phase-II clinical trials.
Arterolane, our potential Anti-malarial candidate is currently undergoing Phase IIb studies (dose range finding studies) in Africa, Thailand and India.
The Company’s potential drug candidate for Dyslipidemia RBx 10558, has been successfully out-licensed to Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. (PPD), a leading global Contract Research Organization for clinical development for further development.
The Company is also profiling DPP-IV Inhibitors (Di-Peptidyl Peptidase IV Inhibitors) for Type-2-diabetes, a selective Phosphodiesterase 4-b inhibitor for COPD and Asthma, and a novel antibiotic antibacterial for Community Acquired Respiratory Tract Infection.
The Company continues to forge ahead with its various research alliances, in order to expedite its Drug Discovery program.
Significant progress has been made on two research programs, one each in the Anti-infective and Respiratory segments, which are being pursued with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Consequently, Ranbaxy and GSK have expanded the original agreement and Ranbaxy now has the responsibility for advancing the selected compounds to ‘proof of concept’ in man, whereby total milestone payments, excluding royalties, could exceed over US $ 100 Mn.
Under an alliance with a leading academic institution in India, a number of medicinal plants are being evaluated as potential sources for novel pharmaceutical agents. The Company also has collaborative research projects with other academic institutions in India in the area of Respiratory and Infectious disease.
R&D INFRASTRUCTURE
Ranbaxy is among the few Indian pharmaceutical companies in India to have recognized the importance of Research & Development (R&D) and invested early in it. The first research activity at Ranbaxy was initiated way back in the year 1973. Later when Ranbaxy drew its ambitious global plans, it embarked on R&D in a significant way by establishing its first R&D centre in 1994.
Ranbaxy today has state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary centre at Gurgaon (near New Delhi) in India, with dedicated facilities for generics research and innovative research.
The prowess of Indian scientists is widely acknowledged today and it is believed that the cost of developing a new drug in India can be one third to one fifth of doing the same, in the developed world. It is a long term objective of Ranbaxy to build a proprietary prescriptions business, based on its prowess in NDDS and NCE research.
