Dr Reddy's speaking to potential partners for bio-similars

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GV Prasad of Dr Reddy's said that the company is speaking to potential partners for bio-similars and may do a partnership deal next year. Vikas Dandekar of pharmasianews.com spoke to CNBC-TV18 on the development.

Below is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Vikas Dandekar on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q. What exactly is the plan for Dr Reddy's? What are the partners they are speaking to? What exactly is the company's compulsion to focus on bio-similars at this stage?

A: At the start let me say that bio-similars is going to be one of Dr Reddy's central focuses at. They are building a pipeline of no less than six-eight bio-similars of which we already know about two products--Filigrastim and Rituximab--that are in the market. The third will be Darbepoetin. However, while building up this entire structure, the company realizes that it will be difficult to go all alone if you have to tap the Western markets. So some kind of an initiation has already happened with multinational companies on partnering. There are some very compelling clauses like non-inferiority and largescale trials for approvals that probably will need more than a 1,000 patients. So all of this will cost a lot of money and doing it all alone may not be very easy for a company like Dr Reddy's. Mylan's deal with Biocon is an example. Prasad was of the view that something of that sort might emerge maybe next year and that will definitely be one of the components that will drive growth for Dr Reddy's in the next three years.

Q. But in percentage terms of growth how much would that be and specifically which partners is the company focusing on and which market is the focus here?

A: Probably the company is looking for skill sets in biotechnology. So we are aware of companies like Merck, Lilly, Pfizer and GSK that want to have a play in this emerging area and as the products will not be substitutable like in the case of Chemistry-based drug, it will require a lot of marketing skills for detailing to the doctor. So I would assume that these probably will be some of the companies that maybe approaching companies that will have skill sets. So far as the markets are concerned, the regulatory pathway is quite in place so far as the EU is concerned. In the US, there is a lot of pressure to open up and among the first will be some of the drugs like Erythropoietin of Amgen which will be opened maybe 2012 or 2013 is when the patent expires. So all of these taken together, the ground work is being made so that in the next three-four years the company is prepared with six-eight products.

Q. Did Mr Prasad also talk about any sort of revenue pipeline that they maybe looking at in the next about two-three years?

A: He didn't dwell much on the financial bid but it was very clear that it requires a lot of cost for development of these compounds because in trials it will be a massive expense that will be needed and that is where probably the need for a partner to share the expenses and take the products into the market. So while he didn't put a number, it was clear that it might take millions of dollars which a company of the size of Dr Reddy's probably will not be able to handle single-handedly.

Q. Will this result in an exclusive partnership or are they also looking at growing inorganically in the bio-similar space?

A: It works best for them to go for the partnership model and that is what they are trying to do in the way if there are technologies that they can pick up and that is where complex generics come into play and that is also part of their growth strategy. We already are aware of some kind of activity on Revlimid which is a drug from Celgene and it is a very complex product needed only for a select few patients. So if there is a cutting edge technology available probably then the company will definitely go ahead and buy it out. Therefore, I don't think there are any distinct departments to seek right now on this.