Chao Centre gets rights to manufacture TB drug

The Chao Centre, located in the Indiana Purdue Research Park and an affiliate of Purdue University, has received the exclusive rights to manufacture, distribute and sell the drug, which is indicated for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Eli Lilly has been producing Seromycin (capreomycin and cycloserine) until now, but has been involved in an earlier partnership with the Chao Centre regarding the drug and access to it in developing countries. The move is part of a humanitarian effort to produce and manufacture a needed drug in smaller quantities that cannot be produced in a cost-effective way by larger pharmaceutical companies. "The Chao Centre is one of 14 organisations in five continents committed to the Lilly partnership to help combat this daunting disease,"​ Eli Lilly contract manufacturing director Iain Richardson said. "Our main goal is to increase access to effective medications in countries with high instances of tuberculosis and focus global resources on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis." ​ Under the agreement, Lilly provides the Chao Centre with the intellectual property and associated analytical, regulatory, quality and technical support, including all necessary and regulatory materials. Lilly has also agreed to donate equipment and supplies to the Purdue Research Foundation, the Chao Centre's parent organisation, which will be used to support the Seromycin manufacturing process. The centre will make the prescription drug available to pharmaceutical wholesalers in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands for distribution to pharmacies. Part of the agreement gives Purdue pharmaceutical sciences students the opportunity to work at the Chao Centre and learn how to produce drugs under the guidelines set by the US Food and Drug Administration.