Ranbaxy ties up with GlaxoSmithkline

At Ranbaxy, within the research and development, an alliance management group has been formed which will look at the activities of this alliance with GlaxoSmithkline, Ranbaxy president Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya said.

As per the agreement, Ranbaxy will get the hits (leads) from GlaxoSmithkline for various diseases of common interest and Ranbaxy will put its chemistry team to develop the molecule, Dr Bharbhaiya added.

“This agreement furthers our strategy of building strong collaborations in drug discovery at the same time we accelerate our own internal drug discovery programmes, said Dr Tadataka Yamada, chairman, research and development, GlaxoSmithkline Plc.

Although there is no immediate plan to shift the existing molecules or drug discovery programmes by Ranbaxy and GlaxoSmithkline to this new alliance, it can not be ruled out in future, Ranbaxy’s vice president, NDDR (novel drug delivery research), Kasim Mookhtiar said.

Ranbaxy’s vice-president for global licensing and corporate affairs Sanjiv Kaul added, “this alliance is a major milestone in the annals of Indian pharmaceutical research. We see a win-win situation going forward for both the organisations, India and Indian pharma research companies at large.”

Although India’s low-cost advantage is already known, through this alliance, Ranbaxy’s talent and its research and development ability has been recognised, Dr Bharbaiya added. “The alliance will not proceed in drug development unless we are absolutely sure and will result in leveraging our strengths,” he added.

The formation of this research alliance is important as Ranbaxy is already fighting a few legal cases in international courts for generic products.