When it comes to drugs for rare diseases in India, affordability is a major hindrance. Hyderabad-based drugmaker Laurus Labs, which launched two medicines for orphan, or rare, diseases recently and plans to offer two more soon, is looking to change the landscape of rare disease treatment in India.
In an interaction with Moneycontrol, the company’s founder and chief executive Satyanarayana Chava said that he feels there may be a high unmet need in the segment and the firm is looking to fill the gaps wherever possible.
The company has launched Trientine, used in the management of Wilson's disease ( a disorder in which copper accumulates in the brain, liver and other vital organs) and Nitisinone, used for the treatment and management of tyrosinemia type 1 ( a metabolic disorder in which the body cannot break down amino acid tyrosine leading to liver failure). Both diseases affect kids in general and while in the case of Trientine, there are other therapies available (though Trientine is the first generic without the need for refrigeration), in the case of Nitisinone there is no other therapy or drug which can be used as a substitute. The price of Trientine by the innovator company is around $20,000 a month but Laurus has launched the drug at Rs 20,000 per month.
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Avinash Goyal, general manager at the company, stressed that even though making drugs for rare diseases may not be financially very remunerative for Laurus, it has taken up the task of making a number of affordable drugs accessible to Indian patients.
“Internationally, a rare disease is looked at as a therapeutic area that can change the fortunes of the company," he said. “In our case, we don't think it is going to change the fortunes of the company but our idea is to change the fortunes of the patients.”
Expanding focus areas
The company sells its active pharmaceutical ingredients in more than 55 countries and its major focus areas include anti-retroviral, Hepatitis C and oncology drugs. However, the firm is now looking to strengthen its portfolio for global markets in the segments of cardiovascular, anti-viral and oncology.
“We are already present in these segments but we'll strengthen by adding more products into the portfolio for global markets,” said Chava.
In the case of anti-virals, diabetes and cardiovascular drugs, Laurus Labs makes both API and formulations but for oncology, as of now, it is only API.
“For oncology, we just started research and development (R&D) and it may take three-four years for us to commercialise our sterile commercial manufacturing plant. So except oncology, in other segments where Laurus would like to position very strong is based on a fully integrated approach,” he said.
Need for innovation
A decade or two back, Chava said, India’s forte was reverse engineering generics, making it cost-effective, litigating patents and launching drugs in the US market but now that opportunity is becoming smaller.
So, he insisted, innovation should be directed not only towards reverse engineering but also towards drug discovery, new drug delivery systems and re-purposing of old drugs.
And as Laurus has invested in ImmunoACT (a start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay for bringing CAR-T cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy for blood cancers), Chava said, other pharma companies should also help startups to advance the research into commercialisation.
“That is the way the Indian industry will be well recognised globally,” he said.
‘Need more thrust on research’
While the Performance linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the pharma sector by the Union government, aimed at reducing import dependency has been good, said Chava, the thrust should also move from ‘Make in India’ to ‘Invent in India’.
“Unless we move from Make in India to Invent in India, the value will not grow substantially,” said the CEO. “At least some leeway should be there for Indian pharmaceutical companies doing disruptive innovation, product support, prototyping. Those benefits should be introduced by the government to help pharma and healthcare research in general. “
He also underlined that the government should now look into incentivising research, mainly disruptive research in the healthcare sector also.