Advinus Therapeutics, a company owned by the Tata group, has entered into a drug discovery and development collaboration with the US-based Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc (OMJPI), a part of Johnson & Johnson, to develop two drug candidates for various disease targets. As per the agreement between the two, Advinus would receive an upfront payment as well as milestone payments of upto $247 million upon successful development of the two targets. Advinus is also eligible for royalties on the sales of any drug products resulting from the collaboration. Under the agreement, Advinus will be responsible for drug discovery and early clinical development (until the completion of Phase 2a studies), while OMJPI will have an option to advance the drug candidates into late stage clinical trials and will be responsible for worldwide commercialisation of the molecules.
Rashmi Barbhaiya, managing director and co-founder, Advinus, said that the model that the company follows, where the target therapies are not decided in advance, is unique. This gives the firm and its scientists the freedom to research on potential drug areas, without restricting them to any particular therapy. Adds Kasim Mookhtiar, CSO and head of drug discovery, ?This also shows the amount of trust that company?s repose on you.?
The unlisted Advinus was formed three years back, and the Tata Group has already invested Rs 200 crore as of date. According to R Gopalakrishnan, executive director at Tata Sons and chairman, Advinus, ?We expect the company to reach Rs 100 crore in revenues next year.?