Dr. Reddy’s arm to test Curis’ cancer product in India

Aurigene Discovery Technologies Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories engaged in discovery and early clinical development of therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, plans to initiate a phase 2 trial in India of Curis Inc’s CA-170, an oral small molecule targeting the immune checkpoints PDL1 and VISTA.
This follows Aurigene’s collaborator and licensee of CA-170 Curis Inc presenting the preliminary data from the initial 34 patients with cancer treated in the dose escalation stage of the Phase 1 trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2017 Congress, a release from Dr. Reddy’s on Tuesday said.
The trial was conducted in the US, South Korea and Spain. Curis is a biotechnology firm focused on development and commercialisation of innovative and effective therapeutics for treatment of cancer. Immune checkpoints are the body’s mechanism to prevent the immune system from going into an overdrive while combating infections. “With Curis we have designed a phase 2 trial treating selected populations of patients of interest in the CA-170 programme to be treated at major cancer centres in India,” Aurigene CEO CSN Murthy said.
Biotechnology firm Aurigene’s decision to fund this trial is affirmation of its commitment to CA-170 and a reflection of the successful collaboration it has with Curis in multiple development programmes. Aurigene has the commercial rights to the programme in India and Russia in addition to milestones, royalties other commercial supply rights globally, he said.
“Evidence of tumour shrinkage and multiple patients remaining on drug treatment for extended periods... tells us the programme continues to move in the right direction,” Curis president and CEO Ali Fattaey said.
Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/dr-reddys-arm-to-test-curis-cancer-product-in-india/article19672702.ece

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