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BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
5 January,2007: India’s leading cancer
drugs maker, Dabur Pharma Ltd has launched
nanotech based chemotherapy in India. This
nonoscale drug delivery system for the widely used
anti-cancer agent paclitaxel is claimed to be the
first of its kind in the country.
Dabur’s paclitaxel nano drug is a cremophor free
water soluble formulation and is indicated as a
safe therapy for advanced breast, non-small-cell
lung, and ovarian cancers.
“Owing to its water insolubility, the widely used
chemotherapy agent paclitaxel that is known to
have substantial anti-tumor activity is now used
with a castor oil based solvent, cremophor which
in turn is an agent for life threatening side
effects,’’ Dr. Rama Mukherjee, president R&D at
Dabur Research Foundation (DRF) said.
Experts said nanoparticle drug delivery devices
like Nanoxel enable therapy to take a preferential
course to the cancerous cells and directly
interact with the tumor causing agents thereby
throwing open a larger window for anti-tumor
activity. It also ensures that the patient
receives the full measure of the therapy while
limiting the adverse side effects and toxicity
affected by the drug. This would be a great
advantage because the biggest challenge faced in
cancer therapy is the incidence of severe side
effects that the cancer patient has to encounter
while undergoing chemotherapy.
Nanoxel is the first nanoparticle drug delivery
system outside of the United States, according
Dabur Pharma’s chairman Dr Anand Burman.
With the launch of Nanoxel, Dabur Pharma expects
to bring hope of better and safer therapy to a
number of ailing cancer patients in India who have
suffered for want of a reliable yet cost effective
cancer treatment, Dabur officials maintained.
“The introduction of Nanoxel in India reinforces
Dabur Pharma’s image as a significant company with
an in-house capability to develop critical
anti-cancer products as well as proprietary
technologies that considerably accelerate the
ongoing research and development work at its
research facility. We also plan to rollout the
novel chemotherapy drug delivery formulation
internationally in the near future”, said Ajay K
Vij, COO, Dabur Pharma Ltd.
Cancer as one of the principal chronic
non-communicable diseases is a prime public health
concern and affects approximately 1 million new
cases every year in India. As most anticancer
drugs are designed to simply kill cancer cells,
often in a randomly defined manner, the
distribution of anticancer drugs in healthy organs
or tissues is especially undesirable due to the
potential for severe side effects. Consequently
the threat of side effects greatly limits the
maximum allowable dosage of the drug.
Nanoxel is available to all specialist cancer
therapy providers and healthcare institutes for
cancer treatment from January 4, 2007. The price
of this nanoparticle drug delivery system for
paclitaxel has been pegged at INR 16,000 for one
cycle of chemotherapy administration, the company
sources said.
Besides anti-cancer products Dabur Pharma markets
a range of products in the cardiovascular,
antibacterial, antidiabetic & digestive segments.
Dabur Pharma Limited is an associate company of
Dabur India Limited, a US $ 250 million healthcare
company founded in 1884. Dabur Pharma Limited
operates in Europe and in some other markets
through its fully owned subsidiary-Dabur Oncology
Plc. The Dabur group of companies has a legacy of
trust and excellence in the healthcare business.
Dabur Pharma Limited uses the services of Dabur
Research Foundation (DRF), for Research &
Development activities. DRF is an independent
research organization recognized by the Department
of Science and Technology, Government of India.
Dabur's finished dosage forms are manufactured at
most modern manufacturing units in Bordon (U.K.)
and Baddi (India), while the active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) are manufactured at Kalyani
(India). The Bordon facilities of Dabur have been
granted a manufacturing license by the MHRA, UK.
These facilities use the unique isolator
technology and are one of the best in Europe.
Dabur has also set up overseas offices in the UK,
Malaysia, and Russia. Offices are also being set
up in Thailand, Philippines and Brazil.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT |
