CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) would get the biggest pay check ever of about ₹240 crore from pharmaceutical giant Sun Pharma towards ‘out-licencing’ of patents on a New Chemical Entity (NCE) which can be developed into drugs for multiple ailments.
The CSIR-IICT director, S. Chandrasekhar, signed the pact with Sun Pharma’s Dillip Shanghvi here recently where it was agreed that the IICT would get the payment upfront for the next five years. More payments through royalties on net sales on commercialisation of the products, developed using these patents, would also be made.
Sun Pharma would be responsible for the development of the products, manufacturing them as well as commercialisation and regulatory filings, informed Dr. Chandrasekhar at a press conference in the city on Friday.
“This is only a beginning of out-licencing NCEs as several patents are being negotiated with potential drug development companies. There are at least three more chemical molecules on the verge of being handed over to drug firms. It took our scientific community some time to understand the drug product discovery process, but now we are on the right track,” he said.
The IICT has also been working with institutes dealing with traditional medicine like ayurveda and unani such as Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University of Raipur (Chhattisgarh) towards finding new drugs through natural compounds. About 10 single source compounds being used to treat a particular disease like leaves of tulasi, neem and others have been chosen for a focused research programme.
