While the ban on Cuban imports is still very severe in the US, a new antibody drug for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis being developed through a joint venture between Biocon Biopharmaceuticals and a Cuban research institute, Centre for Molecular Immunology (CIMAB) will soon find its way into the US market.

Biocon will have the international marketing rights for the drug CD 6, which is currently in phase II of clinical trials. The JV was formed in 2002 to develop a number of antibody drugs on cancer and other diseases. The first antibody product taken up in this R&D program was an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor targeting monoclonal antibodies BIOMAb-EGFR which was released last month to treat head and neck cancer.

While Biocon holds the India marketing rights for the cancer drugs being developed under the JV, the Cuban CIMAB has a licensing tie-up with US company CancerVax Corporation for the US, Europe and Japanese markets. Despite the cold relations, the US exempted restrictions on Cuban drugs.

However, Biocon will be the first Indian company through which the Cuban drug will be marketed in the US once CD 6 is developed. “I don’t think the US should have any problems with us marketing this drug there as it is a Biocon drug. However, it is to premature right now. The drug is only in Phase II of the clinical trials,’’ said Biocon MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

The director of the Cuban company is Agustin Lage (brother of Cuba’s Vice-President, Carlos Lage). Other current cancer research at CIM include a joint project between the Cuban government and YM Biosciences Inc, an Ontario-based firm. In August 2000, CIM joined the Center of International Science in China to form the biotechnology company Baitai Biopharmaceutical Corporation, which will use genetic engineering to produce monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer.

... contd.