Ocimum Biosolutions acquires Gene Logic's genomics division

Hyderabad-based Ocimum Biosolutions, a life sciences research and development-enabling company, delivering end-to-end genomic products and services, has announced that it has raised capital from Kubera Cross Border Fund (KUBC) for an equity investment of up to $17 million (including the pro rata investment by affiliates of Kubera Partners, LLC, the Investment Manager of KUBC). Ocimum Biosolutions also announced that it has successfully closed the acquisition of the genomics division of Gene Logic and will retain the Gene Logic name and continue to service customers from Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Commenting on the new partnership, Anuradha Acharya, CEO of Ocimum, said, "We were looking for a partner that apart from providing growth capital and acquisition financing has a similar footprint as ours and can understand our business and our global customer service and delivery model. Kubera's track record and their ability to add value in a cross-border sense uniquely qualifies them to help with businesses such as ours." She added, "With the acquisition of Gene Logic's Genomics business, we now offer the largest portfolio of integrated genomic solutions, which further strengthens our unique positioning in this space. We aim to be the number one genomics outsourcing company in the world. We will leverage our global positioning and Gene Logic's branding and scientific leadership in toxicogenomics, pharmacogenomics and clinical genomics to become a partner of choice for our customers." Ramanan Raghavendran, managing partner at Kubera Partners, LLC said, "We believe genomics outsourcing is at the cusp of significant growth, given the demands on the drug discovery function for labs around the world. Ocimum is well positioned to capture this opportunity because of its leadership in genomics, deep technology knowledge and experience, global delivery capability and above all its world-class scientific talent and management team."

Shiraz Bugwadia, director at o3 Capital Advisors, added, "Ocimum, with this Series B investment from Kubera Partners is well on path to become a $100 million company by 2011 and a world leader in genomics outsourcing."

"No programs to promote cultivation of Bt cotton in India"

"The government of India is not implementing any programs to promote cultivation of Bt cotton in the country," said Kanti Lal Bhuria, minister of state for agriculture, government of India.

Bhuria said, "Bt cotton is the only genetically modified crop released for commercial cultivation in India by Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of the ministry of environment and forest. Bt cotton seed of 167 hybrids is produced and marked by 25 private seed companies at prices ranging from Rs 750-900 ($19.01- 22.82) per packet of 450 gms. The prices have been fixed by the seed industry in consultation with states."

Cultivation of Bt cotton has increased from 29,073 hectare in 2002 to 3.37 million hectare in 2006. In all, farmers from nine states are cultivating Bt cotton in India. Maharashtra is leading the list with 1.75 million hectares followed by Andhra Pradesh (6,80,000 hectares), Gujarat (4,00,000 hectares), Madhya Pradesh (3,80,000 hectares) and Punjab (1,60,000 hectares). Production of cotton has increased from 86.24 lakh bales of 170 kg each in 2002 to 226.96 lakh bales in 2006.

Varda Biotech signs MoU with ICRISAT

Varda Biotech, a Mumbai-based biotechnology company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

The MoU envisages collaboration on development of kits which detect naturally occurring and potentially deadly poison (Aflatoxin) that infects their crops via a common fungus that makes them unfit for consumption or export. A fungus that can easily grow on many crops including common food crops like maize, groundnut, sorghum, and cassava produces Aflatoxin. It can infect them both in the field and after harvest, while they are being stored in grain bins and elevators. Many countries reject agriculture imports exceeding certain levels of Aflatoxin, costing farmers millions of dollars each year in lost sales. Meanwhile, people who inadvertently consume a large quantity of the contaminated food can get very sick, as the toxin can cause potentially fatal problems in the liver and intestines.

"The collaboration with ICRISAT will help Varda to explore new avenues and opportunities in the area of biotechnology in particular agri and food safety areas. This enables to reach out to bigger and needy section of the society," said Vinod M Bomman, director, strategy and business planning at Varda Biotech.

"This association will enable to work closely in tandem with each other, there by propagating benefits in larger scale," said AR Ilyas, COO, Agri-Science Park at ICRISAT.

The collaboration would bring together the expertise of the two institutions to deploy technology, research and development and skillful manpower for delivering the products for affordable cost, to the needy farmers and also for food industry. The product would be launched in to the market, during January-February of year 2008, said Vijay Ambatti, director, business development, Varda Biotech.

Clinsys, ITEC enter into alliance

Clinsys Clinical Research, a Jubilant Organosys company and ITEC Services, announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance. The alliance will enable Clinsys to extend its global clinical operations and consulting services in Europe and North Africa, while providing ITEC increased opportunities resulting from alignment with Clinsys' infrastructure and network of global resources in the US, India and Western Europe.

Under the agreement, Clinsys and ITEC will mutually conduct training with each other's respective operational staff to ensure stringent adherence to standards and guidelines and promote quality deliverables for sponsors.

Dabur OncQuest launches novel testing package for blood cancer patients

Dabur OncQuest, which is into oncology medical testing, has announced its first ever project with an aim to offer cost-effective monitoring of therapy for select patients of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). Dabur OncQuest will perform the BCR/abl translocation quantitative tests by Q PCR technique. A third party administrator identifies the patients through the referring clinicians.

In the current scenario, a patient needs to undergo a test available at varying costs of Rs. 6,000, Rs 3,500 or Rs 2,000 depending on the prescribed technology. These tests are to be done in four regular intervals. Under this new project, the customers will get the premium testing technique which is available at Rs 6,000 per test. Moreover, two among the required four tests will be free. The tests thus, will now cost half their actual cost i.e. the package which was earlier available for Rs 24,000 (test conducted four times) will now be available for Rs 10,200 only. To top it all, Dabur OncQuest will provide free pick and drop facility to its clinics across its centers at 42 cities all over the country.

CML Quest (MRD) i.e. BCR/abl Q PCR is the test indicated to measure the drug response in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The test is an accurate indicator of how the patient is responding to the treatment & indicates the future course of treatment modalities.

Announcing the availability of this test, Aditya Burman, GM, Dabur Pharma says, "OncQuest has always concentrated on providing the latest and most pioneering technologies for oncology testing in India. We have hitherto set benchmarks for cancer diagnostics using our unique technologies. We are delighted to extend our services for the first time to reach our end-users, benefiting them with our advanced economical packages, filling a gap in diagnosis and prognosis of CML world-wide. With this, OncQuest lives up to its mission of introducing scientifically advanced cost effective molecular diagnostic algorithm."

Adding to it, Vivek Trikha, head, Dabur Diagnostics. said, "OncQuest continues the application of real time technologies to perform sensitive tests. Roll out of CML Quest (MRD) under this new package is in line with OncQuest's mission to continuously evolve and develop cost effective testing technologies. The patients under our pilot project have appreciated our effort to provide them the best of the services at the most affordable price."

Jubilant in partnership with Forest Laboratories

Jubilant Biosys, a subsidiary of Jubilant Organosys, a custom research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) and drug discovery and development services company, and Forest Laboratories Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, announced that the companies have entered into a collaboration agreement to discover small molecule drug candidates for a novel metabolic disorders target.

Jubilant Biosys will conduct the drug discovery work and Forest will have responsibility for the subsequent pre-clinical and clinical development. Forest will own the drugs discovered under the collaboration with unencumbered worldwide commercialization rights. Under the terms of the collaboration, Forest will pay Jubilant undisclosed amounts towards research funding, development and commercialization milestones.

Commenting on the development, Shyam S Bhartia, CMD and Hari S Bhartia, co-chairman and managing director of Jubilant Organosys, said: "We are very pleased to partner with Forest Laboratories, an important pharmaceutical company. This collaboration leverages the innovation capabilities of Jubilant Biosys in pharmaceutical discovery and preclinical development, as well as combining these strengths with Forest Laboratories, a proven successful development and commercialization company, to deliver new products with cost effective efficiency that will help patients around the world."

Dr Ivan Gergel, senior vice president of scientific affairs and president of the Forest Research Institute sharing his thoughts on the development added: "This partnership is part of Forest Laboratories' continued efforts in India to access and develop robust partnerships to grow our discovery pipeline and access innovation across the globe. We are very pleased with Jubilant's quality of people, capabilities and infrastructure for pharmaceutical discovery".

India good place for clinical research, says report

India is emerging as the most potential destination for clinical trials for international drug makers, says the research report "Booming Clinical Trials Market in India" by a leading research firm RNCOS. The report has evaluated the factors working in favor of India.

According to the report, Asia-Pacific region is fast emerging as the most promising place for conducting clinical trials, and in this region, China and India are most likely to lead. Low cost and better access to research-related materials are considered as China's advantage over India, at the same time China has the disadvantage that their pharma industry is based on generics and Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) that lacks innovation. Conversely, India has flourishing pharma companies formulating their own small and large molecule therapies.

RNCOS research has looked for the reasons as to why, despite being a beginner in the field, India is being preferred by international drug manufacturers for carrying out clinical trails. It has traced the cost of conducting clinical trails at global level in the past and has methodically done a cost (average) and time analysis of conducting various phases of clinical trials in India with respect to countries like the US, UK, and Germany.

The study also talks about the initiatives being taken by the Indian government to support the clinical trials market.

Clinical trial is the research study by pharmaceutical firms that is done as part of their drug discovery process to find out more efficient treatments for patients with specific disease.

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