Bangalore, Jan 5, 2007: Dabur Pharma Ltd., one of India’s leading manufacturer of anti-cancer drugs, has launched Nanoxel – a novel drug delivery system for the widely used anti-cancer drug Paclitaxel. This nanoscale drug delivery system is India’s first indigenously developed nanotechnology based chemotherapy agent.

 

"We are very excited to launch the first nanoparticle drug delivery system outside of the United States”, said Dr Anand Burman, Chairman, Dabur Pharma Ltd.

 

Dr Rama Mukherjee, President R&D at Dabur Research Foundation (DRF) added, “The drug is a result of years of persevering research in the application of progressive technology for the treatment of various types of cancer at DRF. 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. The anticancer drug Nanoxel, based on the principles of nanotechnology, is a cremophor free water soluble formulation – and is indicated as an effective and safe therapy for advanced breast, non-small-cell lung, and ovarian carcinomas.”

 

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.

 

“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 Mr 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.

 

“The biggest challenge that we face in cancer therapy is the incidence of severe side effects that the cancer patient has to encounter while undergoing chemotherapy. 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”, said Dr S H Advani, Director of Medical Oncology, Jaslok Hospital & Research Center.

 

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 $361 (INR 16,000) for one cycle of chemotherapy administration.