The Hindu Business Line : Biocon ties up with Nobex of US for oral insulin

The two companies will jointly develop Nobex's insulin molecule into a tablet-form product that diabetics can take orally instead of the conventional injection. This promises to be the first oral insulin product worldwide.

The companies did not disclose the financial or other arrangements of the tie-up.

The Biocon CMD, Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, just said, "With this agreement, Biocon has an opportunity to invest in Nobex."

Drug development normally takes 10-12 years but with preliminary work already done by both the partners, the product should not take that long, said Ms Mazumdar-Shaw and Dr Christopher Price, President and CEO of Nobex. They expect to have significant clinical data and "make firm progress towards manufacturing within two years."

Non-invasive insulin that can be swallowed or sprayed is the stuff that the pharma world has dreamed of. Majors such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have tried a shot with 120 million diabetics worldwide and 30 million in India. And the growing global insulin business, she said, is touching $5 billion. The oral insulin product meant for both Type 1 and 2 diabetics could cater to a similar size and be a huge business opportunity.

Nobex discovered the molecule early this year and the drug is in phase 2 clinical trials. "This is the first opportunity and the first collaboration in India. We are already talking (to Biocon) of a lot of other partnerships," said Dr Price. The ten-year-old North Carolina-based company has in the pipeline oral drugs such as calcitonin for osteoporosis, bowel inflammation, congestive heart disease and obesity.

In February last year, Biocon entered into a research partnership with Hannah Research Institute of Scotland to work on Hannah's proprietary technology for protein stabilisation. Ms Shaw told Business Line that Biocon would use the technology to work on its project with Nobex.

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