Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd on Thursday said that it has entered into an agreement with the UK-based Argenta Discovery Ltd for the joint development and commercialisation of a new approach to the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
COPD is a progressive lung disease characterised by difficulty in breathing, wheezing and chronic cough.
Under the terms of the agreement, the company and Argenta will collaborate to identify clinical candidates from a certain class of the Dr Reddys compounds for use as potential treatments for COPD, it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Both the parties will jointly develop the selected candidates from the pre-clinical stage up to proof-of-concept (Phase IIa) and on completion of the trials, the companies might either license-out the candidate for further development and commercialisation to a larger pharmaceutical company or continue the further co-development and commercialisation themselves, it said.
Both the companies have agreed to fund the joint collaboration up to proof-of-concept stage but the financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, it added.
"We are excited about the R&D collaboration with Argenta as it provides us with an opportunity to leverage our drug discovery capabilities to target unmet medical needs in the respiratory therapeutic area. Argenta brings the significant respiratory drug development expertise required to pursue a novel approach for the treatment of COPD, asthma and cystic fibrosis," Dr Reddys Laboratories Chief Executive Officer GV Prasad said.
{{/usCountry}}"We are excited about the R&D collaboration with Argenta as it provides us with an opportunity to leverage our drug discovery capabilities to target unmet medical needs in the respiratory therapeutic area. Argenta brings the significant respiratory drug development expertise required to pursue a novel approach for the treatment of COPD, asthma and cystic fibrosis," Dr Reddys Laboratories Chief Executive Officer GV Prasad said.
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