- Malaria is a life-threatening public health issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. There is a need for an effective, affordable, and accessible preventive and/or treatment medication. This potential partnership is a step towards this cause
- This potential partnership aims to bring together Kainomyx’s expertise in novel drug discovery, Aurigene’s capability to conduct integrated drug discovery and development, and Dr. Reddy’s ability to commercialize products in low and middle-income countries, in addition to the US and Europe
- It is a testament to the commitment of involved parties towards promoting global public health and Dr. Reddy’s goal of reaching 1.5 billion patients by 2030
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (BSE: 500124, NSE: DRREDDY, NYSE: RDY, NSEIFSC: DRREDDY; along with its subsidiaries together referred to as “Dr. Reddy’s”), and its CRDMO arm Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services Limited (Aurigene), today announced that they have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kainomyx, Inc., a US-based company with a proprietary platform that helps target cytoskeletal proteins of parasites, a novel mechanism of action, for the development and commercialization of affordable anti-malarial drug in the U.S., Europe, and in low and middle-income countries. The MoU remains subject to signing of a definitive agreement.
Malaria is a serious health challenge that has a disproportionate prevalence in vulnerable populations of low-income countries. As per WHO, an alarming number of 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 cases of malaria death were reported in year 2022. It has been widely reported that climate change will increase the incidences of such vector-borne diseases1. With this collaboration, the companies intend to drive a comprehensive research and development agenda to leverage their strengths and accelerate the program.
Under the MoU, Kainomyx has agreed to lead the technical strategy and associated aspects for drug discovery and clinical phases, Aurigene has agreed to focus on developing cost-effective and scalable drug chemistry, and while the program evolves, Dr. Reddy’s will bring in its regulatory and market access expertise.
Deepak Sapra, CEO – API and Services, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., said: “Public health and access is a strategic area for us and malaria continues to be a very important disease that needs innovative as well as affordable medicines. The MoU with Kainomyx is a promising step in that direction and towards improving global health outcomes and delivering on Dr. Reddy’s vision to reach 1.5 billion patients by 2030.”
Akhil Ravi, CEO, Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services Ltd., adds, “We are excited to collaborate with Dr. James and the Kainomyx team given their expertise in bringing innovative medicines to market. We share the same vision of addressing global health issues by serving neglected populations.”
James Spudich, Executive Chairman of Kainomyx, states, “new drug discovery for Malaria and other parasitic diseases is essential because drug resistance to existing therapeutics is rapidly developing. Through our decades of work, we have developed a deep understanding of how cytoskeletal proteins work. Cytoskeletal proteins are essential for all living organisms, and we are exploiting this to specifically target the cytoskeleton for treatment of Malaria. I am delighted that in our molecules’ journey to market we will be forming a partnership with Dr. Reddy’s and Aurigene who have demonstrated their experience and expertise through their work in public health.”
About Dr. Reddy's: Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (BSE: 500124, NSE: DRREDDY, NYSE: RDY, NSEIFSC: DRREDDY) is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Hyderabad, India. Established in 1984, we are committed to providing access to affordable and innovative medicines. Driven by our purpose of 'Good Health Can't Wait', we offer a portfolio of products and services including APIs, generics, branded generics, biosimilars and OTC. Our major therapeutic areas of focus are gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, diabetology, oncology, pain management and dermatology. Our major markets include – USA, India, Russia & CIS countries, China, Brazil and Europe. As a company with a history of deep science that has led to several industry firsts, we continue to plan ahead and invest in businesses of the future. As an early adopter of sustainability and ESG actions, we released our first Sustainability Report in 2004. Our current ESG goals aim to set the bar high in environmental stewardship; access and affordability for patients; diversity; and governance. For more information, log on to: www.drreddys.com.
About Aurigene: Aurigene, a Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories company, is a global contract research, development, and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) built on the legacy of accelerating innovation and backed by a vast experience in drug discovery, development, and manufacturing of small and large molecules. We offer integrated and standalone services for discovery chemistry, biotherapeutics discovery, discovery biology, development and manufacturing services for clinical phase I-III programs, regulatory submission batches and commercial manufacturing. For more details about Aurigene, please visit www.aurigeneservices.com.
About Kainomyx: Kainomyx Inc. is a California-based, Stanford spinout leveraging its expertise in targeting cytoskeletal proteins for human, animal and agricultural diseases. The company was founded in 2019 by James Spudich, Ph.D., Annamma Spudich Ph.D., Darshan Trivedi Ph.D., Suman Nag Ph.D., and Kathleen Ruppel MD-Ph.D., who have decades of experience in cytoskeletal biology. This team was involved in the discovery of the first-in-class cardiac myosin inhibitor CamzyosTM developed by MyoKardia (FDA approved in April 2022) for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. James Spudich was a Founder of MyoKardia (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb) and Cytokinetics, both of which leverage cytoskeletal targeting for human muscle diseases. He and his co-Founders of Kainomyx Inc. have developed programs focused on targeting cytoskeletal proteins for global health diseases, including Malaria and other programs in animal and agricultural spaces. Kainomyx Inc. has also established a subsidiary in C-CAMP, Bangalore, India to pursue their research programs. For more details about Kainomyx, please visit www.kainomyx.com
1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria
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