Collaborations_The Dr. Reddy's Way

A couple of articles on Dr. Reddy's Labs' strategy related to collaborations are highlighting the future of the pharma industry. 

• http://www.livemint.com/Companies/dJ0XBFFyjk3zL6I8osMfbM/Dr-Reddys-plans-more-RD-alliances-with-foreign-firms.html
• http://www.financialexpress.com/article/pharma/latest-updates/drl-in-collaboration-with-amgen-in-india/114630/ 

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) has entered into a strategic collaboration with Amgen, a leading independent biotechnology companies, to market and distribute three Amgen medicines in India in the areas of oncology and cardiology. Under the terms of the collaboration, DRL shall perform a full range of regulatory and commercial services to seek approval and launch Kyprolis (carfilzomib), BLINCYTO (blinatumomab) and Repatha (evolocumab) in India.

The collaboration leverages the capabilities of both companies, combining three of Amgen’s innovative therapies with DRL’s deep understanding of patient and physician needs in India.

DRL also plans more research and development (R&D) alliances with foreign companies to strengthen its drug pipeline. More such partnerships are in the offing, said Satish Reddy, chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd (DRL), in an interview on Wednesday. “The previous era where the Indian company alone takes the risk of developing new drugs is over. Now they prefer to have collaborations with global institutions where the risk is shared between them,” said Reddy, adding that the firm is exploring more R&D tie-ups in various therapeutical areas.

In April 2015, Promius Pharma, LLC, a DRL unit, filed three NDAs with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA): DFD-01, DFD-09, and DFN-11— all from Dr. Reddy’s proprietary products group which focuses on developing and commercializing therapies in dermatology and neurology. DRL is working on another 15 NDAs for the US market in areas of skin care and neurology. A few of these will be filed in the next two-three years.

“In current circumstances where the drug discovery expenditure shot up, taking risk alone will not work for Indian companies. Partnership is a revenue earning model where milestone payments can be received at various stages,” Reddy said.

Currently, the cost of developing and launching a drug falls anywhere between $1 billion and $4 billion. About 60% of the cost comes in phase III clinical trials where the drug is administered to thousands of people at multiple centres. Since Indian companies are unable to afford the expenses, most of the innovator firms out-license the molecules after phase I trials.

“Through such R&D collaborations, various factors related to drug developments such as capital, technology and manpower will be spread among the parties,” said Sujay Shetty, leader, pharma, life sciences & medical devices practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers India.