National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Mohali has made a breakthrough in nano medicine. Currently, nano medicines technology are with US and Ireland only. The indigenous technology India will cut the cost of such drugs by almost half.
Nano-crystals are tiny nanometre-sized particles of the drug that act faster and more efficiently than the conventional ones. The institute has already received the patent for the technology from India and has applied for patents from US and Europe. The nanotechnology-enabled drug delivery market is estimated to be $136 billion. Out of this, 60% share is expected to be occupied by nanocrystals.
When compared to western technology, the indigenous process generates the nano-crystals directly as a solid powder, rather than as a nano-suspension in liquid that has to be subsequently converted into a solid. This has helped in cutting down the cost of generating nano-crystal raw material and opening further competition in the pharmaceutical drug development market.
NIPER has entered into licensing agreement for development and commercialisation, retaining the ownership of the patent, with Windlas Biotech limited, an Indian pharmaceutical company. Currently the technology is in nascent stage of laboratory scale trials. The commercial partner would scale up the technology and go further for clinical trials.
After commercialization of products based on NanoCrySP, sales linked royalty payment shall be made to NIPER by the company. This technology, if successful, could allow for discovery of new treatments for existing molecules.
Leave a Reply