Cadila Pharmaceuticals inks licensing deal with UK-based Helperby

The UK-based Helperby Therapeutics has signed its first licensing deal with Cadila Pharmaceuticals, which lead to the development of therapeutical solutions to fight against antibiotic resistant diseases. As a result of the deal, Cadila will take Helperby's lead compound, HT61 (which is a topical antibiotic resistance breaker), through further clinical trials, approvals and into commercialisation. While Helperby will supply Cadila with antibiotic resistance breakers, while Cadila will develop the combinations with old antibiotics.
 
Prof Anthony Coates, Creator and Chief Scientific Officer, Helperby, said, “This exciting and timely partnership with Cadila offers us all hope. A future without antibiotics is unthinkable but it could happen - imagine a time when a cut finger could leave you fighting for your life. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens has accelerated while the pipeline for new antimicrobial drugs has all but run dry.”
 
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Cadila Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest privately held pharmaceutical companies in India and was the first Indian company to receive Investigational New Drug approval by the US’s stringent Food and Drug Administration. It is now actively considering a presence in the UK with a corresponding programme for UK microbiologists as part of the collaboration.
 
Dr Rajiv I Modi, Chairman and Managing Director, Cadila, said, “This discovery will open new avenues against resistant organisms and is very timely in view of global concerns about rapidly growing bacterial resistance against current antibiotics. Cadila Pharmaceutical’s collaboration with Helperby can help mankind win the battle against the microbes and hopefully save millions of lives in coming years.”