Dabur launches new delivery system for anti-cancer drug
By Our Corporate Bureau | 04 Jan 2007
Mumbai: Dabur Pharma has launched an indigenously developed anti-cancer drug delivery system, Nanoxel, in India and plans to introduce it in the highly lucrative US and European markets within the next 18-36 months.
Dabur plans to start clinical trials of Nanoxel, a nanotechnology-based novel drug delivery system (NDDS) for the widely used anti-cancer treatment drug Paclitaxel, in the US and Europe.
"We expect to start clinical trials for Nanoxel in the US and Europe very soon and are hoping to launch it there in the next 18-36 months," Dabur Pharma chairman, Anand Burman said.
The company recently got USFDA's approval to market its generic drug 'Paclitaxel' it in the US, where the drug has estimated sales of $400 million. Dabur Pharma would also target the market with Nanoxel once it gets the approval from the USFDA, he said.
The company plans to promote Nanoxel, which would be priced higher than the existing forms of NDDS for Paclitaxel, in the Indian market. The drug has a market size of around 8-11 kg per annum, Burman added.
"Nanoxel removes all the negative properties of existing NDDS like water insolubility, toxicity and other side effects and is the first commercial application of nanotechnology in pharmaceuticals," according to Dabur Research Foundation president Rama Mukherjee.