Advinus sees diabetes molecule breakthrough in six months

Drug likely to be licensed to other companies.

The Tata Group-promoted Advinus Therapeutics is expecting a breakthrough for a diabetes molecule in about six months. The company is likely to license it to other companies, according to Tata Sons Executive Director R Gopalakrishnan.

Advinus has already completed the first-stage development of the molecule and is set to initiate talks with pharma companies for further drug trials, he added. At present, five full-discovery programmes are on for internal research.

Advinus has a collaboration with Merck (USA) for drug discovery in the area of metabolic diseases.

The company has a drug discovery centre in Pune that focuses on diabetes, obesity, lipid disorders, inflammatory diseases and neglected diseases like dengue and malaria. Its Bangalore centre has a collaboration with DNDi (Drugs for Neglected), he said.

Group pitches in for ‘Golden Agri’ project
Tata Sons is also looking at augmenting its crop protection solution services and is looking at Japanese companies for collaboration. The group now has Tata chemicals for plant nutrients and Rallis India for crop protection.

“We are looking for a meaningful role in the seed segment, which is the missing link in the plant protection products business,’’ said Gopalakrishnan, while speaking to the media on the sidelines of a pulses conclave organised by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Agri Watch on Saturday.

Gopalakrishnan said both Tata Group companies – Tata Chemicals and Rallis India – are pooling in resources for a ‘Golden Agri’ project on a public-private partnership model to improve pulses production. As part of the pilot, it is working with 1,000 farmers on 3,500 acres in Tamil Nadu for urad dal cultivation.