Biocon to launch psoriasis drug novel biologic in July

It will be manufactured at the company8217;s Biopharma manufacturing facility at Biocon Park in Bangalore,she added. Psoriasis is an inflammatory auto-immune skin disease that follows a typical relapsing and remitting course with the disease affecting two to three per cent of the total population in the country.

8220;The market for such a drug is huge in India as the disease affects quite a number of people,8221; she added. The global market for psoriasis treatments is estimated to cross USD 8 billion by 2016,Biocon said.

The company had received marketing authorisation for Itolizumab from the Drugs Controller General of India DCGI in January,2013.

8220;We also plan to extend the clinical development of the drug for other auto- mmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis,multiple sclerosis and vitiligo in future,8221; Mazumdar-Shaw said.

The company has also completed a pre-IND Investigational New Drug meeting for Itolizumab with the US Food and Drug Administration as it plans for a global clinical development of the new medicine.

This is company8217;s second novel biologic developed in India. BioMab EGFR,an anti-cancer monoclonal antibody being the first.