Glaxo Targets India for Cancer Drug Research
Fri Nov 18, 2005
By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to make India a major center for testing experimental cancer drugs, in a move highlighting the appeal of the country as a low-cost base for research.
Europe's biggest drug maker said on Thursday it had signed a collaboration with the University of Oxford's clinical pharmacology department to establish the first Indian cancer-trials network.
Glaxo, which has big ambitions in cancer, will outline its goals for tackling the disease at a research seminar for investors on Nov. 30.
Its most important experimental cancer drug is lapatinib, a dual-action treatment which is being developed initially for breast cancer. It also has a promising vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, called Cervarix.
Glaxo said the new collaboration would enable the evaluation of new treatments in a range of cancer types, including gall bladder, liver and cervical cancers, which are more prevalent in India than in Europe or North America.
The new network -- which has initial 3-year funding from Glaxo -- will include publicly funded cancer centers in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kerala and Ahmedabad.
EMERGING MARKET ATTRACTION
Western drug companies are shifting more clinical trials to emerging markets in a bid to save money, speed up research and educate a new generation of local doctors about their products.
Glaxo said in October 2004 that it aimed to move 30 percent of its clinical trials to low-cost countries within two years.
Other favorite locations include China and Poland.
While conducting trials in these countries is significantly cheaper, cost is not the only factor.
It is also easier to recruit patients, since there is less competition from rival research groups, and the population is less likely to be taking other medicines which could interact with the drug being studied.
Professor David Kerr of the University of Oxford, who is leading the management team for the cancer-trials network, said Indian sites would be involved in each stage of the clinical trialling process.
Cancer sufferers in India stand to gain from the arrangement, according to Professor Vinod Raina, an oncologist with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
"Indian patients will now have the benefit of access to new anti-cancer agents at a much earlier stage than in the past," he said.
Cancer is an increasing focus for many large pharmaceutical groups.
According to health information firm IMS Health, cancer drug sales will rise by 17 percent to 18 percent next year -- almost three times the overall pharmaceutical market growth rate of 6 percent to 7 percent -- and will overtake cholesterol treatments as the largest-selling drug category.
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