Amgen taps Jubilant for drug discovery services
Under the terms of the wide-ranging deal, Jubilant will work with Amgen to develop a portfolio of "novel drugs in new target areas of interest across multiple therapeutic areas." The three-year contract will see Jubilant taking active substances that emanate from Amgen's drug discovery pipeline and developing them through early preclinical testing at its Jubilant Research Centre in Bangalore. Amgen will take over once the compounds reach late-stage preclinical and clinical development, and will have marketing rights to them should they win through development. Financial terms include a combination of research funding and success-based milestones paid to Jubilant during preclinical and clinical development for multiple projects undertaken by the collaboration. Jubilant's facility in Bangalore employs over 500 scientists and specialises in biology, chemistry, structural biology, pharmacology, molecular modeling, crystallography and information technology. Commenting on the development, Shyam and Hari Bhartia, co-chairmen of Jubilant Organosys said: "This collaboration leverages the innovation capabilities of Jubilant Biosys in pharmaceutical discovery and preclinical development."
"The partnership continues to demonstrate Jubilant's strategy to be India's largest innovation driven integrated pharmaceutical service provider supporting the global pharmaceutical Industry." Meanwhile, Jubilant Organosys has reported impressive financial results for the quarter ended June 30, with revenues rising 53 per cent to 8.27bn rupees ($193m). International revenues were up even more strongly, advancing 74% to 4.85 billion rupees, with most of this growth driven by the US "We benefited from strong demand for outsourcing in CRAMS [custom reseach and manufacturing services] and DDDS [drug discovery and development services)", said the company. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) cam in at 1.73 billion rupees, up 62 per cent. The internationalisation of the business, along with investments in capacity and a wider product profile, should help drive revenues up more than 50 per cent for fiscal 2009 as a whole, said the firm.
