Zydus, Germany’s Pieris tie up to develop `Anticalin’ protein drugs

Pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila has entered into a drug development and commercialisation alliance with Pieris AG, a therapeutic protein R&D company based in Germany, for a new therapeutic protein molecule branded Anticalin.

The alliance will develop and commercialise multiple novel Anticalin-based protein therapeutics, both companies announced today.

The collaboration combines Pieris' drug discovery and early development capabilities with Zydus' expertise in biologics development, regulatory affairs and biologics manufacturing, the two companies said in a release.

Zydus will have exclusive marketing rights for the products developed by the alliance in India and several other emerging markets, while Pieris retains exclusive marketing rights in key developed markets.

''Under the terms of agreement, Zydus will take the lead in advancing Anticalin drug candidates through preclinical development and into clinical development.''

''Collaborating with established biotech companies on differentiated drug candidates is an important component of Zydus' ongoing transformation into an innovation-led global healthcare provider, and we are pleased to add Anticalins to our novel biologics pipeline," said Pankaj R Patel, chairman and managing director of Zydus group.

''With Zydus' state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and seasoned drug development team, this collaboration will allow Pieris to unlock value on a global scale in a cost-effective manner, significantly expanding the number of proprietary Anticalin programmes we can advance into clinical trials,'' added Pieris CEO Stephen Yoder.

The most advanced program in the collaboration is PRS-110, an Anticalin specific for c-Met, a target becoming increasingly validated across a broad spectrum of tumors.

PRS-110, which is a pure antagonist due to its monovalent target engagement, has demonstrated the ability to inhibit both ligand-dependent and -independent c-Met activity in a variety of animal models.

Zydus Cadila develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of healthcare therapies. The group employs over 15,000 people worldwide.

Zydus is the only Indian pharma company to launch its own patented NCE – Lipaglyn, the world's first drug to be approved for the treatment of diabetic dyslipidemia.

The company has a robust product pipeline, and expects global sales to reach over $3 billion by 2015 and become a research-based pharmaceutical company by 2020.

The group has been making significant investments in the development and manufacturing of biologics for more than a decade. Zydus has developed a pipeline of 17 biosimilar drugs with six such drugs commercialized and others in clinical development.

Zydus has so far advanced two novel biologic drugs to the clinical trial stage.