Breaking News on Contract Research, Manufacturing & Clinical Trials

Holmes Biopharma eyes 'improved' inflammatory bowel drug

By Kirsty Barnes, 11-Jul-2007

Related topics: Phase I-II, Clinical Development

Holmes Biopharma has announced it plans to acquire the worldwide rights to an improved formulation of a Phase II as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug.

The drug it has its sights on is said to be an "improved" version of a current IBD drug that has "a new and more effective delivery system," and is designed to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, which affect 525,000 and 490,000 people respectively in the US each year.

 

 

 

Datamonitor has predicted the market for IBD drugs will reach $2.3bn by 2010.

 

 

 

The contract research organisation (CRO) is one of the few who are branching away from the traditional business model of a CRO to try its hand at developing its own drugs, along with traditional fee-for-service drug development.

 

 

 

Other CROs dabbling in these new waters include Pharmaceutical Products Development (PPD), which in May in-licensed a preclinical anti-cholesterol compound off India's Ranbaxy in a deal worth up to $44m.

 

 

 

The new compound has been taken under the wing of PPD's small but growing Compound Partnering division, which currently has four compounds in development with three partners.

 

 

 

SRI Biosciences is also active in this space. Last month it announced that its third cancer drug candidate was awarded development funding support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

 

 

 

SRI Biosciences conducts basic research like a university, performs drug discovery and develops biologics like a biotechnology company, and is also a CRO for preclinical development. To date it has developed nine drugs internally.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, some CROs are also now starting to position themselves in strategic partnerships, or even in risk-sharing partnerships with pharma firms, rather than as simple service providers, according to John Rountree, managing partner at UK R&D support firm Novasecta, speaking at yesterday's Pharma-Bio Outsourcing conference in London.

 

 

 

Companies such as Quintiles, Evotec and Galapagos are taking approaches such as these.

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