AstraZeneca Might Spend More than Rs 3000 Crore on New Pill
AstraZeneca India ltd brought the latest cancer cure news to the country. The company has released statements announcing the deal for acquiring a new drug to achieve its current cancer drug targets.
The pharma giant has been expanding its portfolio to include newer cancer drugs. AstraZeneca has signed a deal with a Japanese company called Daiichi Sankyo.
The Japanese multinational has been working on a new type of drug class called Antibody Drug Conjugates. These have shown promising results and could help in achieving many current cancer drug targets. The company has said the drug has potential against many forms of cancer including breast and lung cancer.
AstraZeneca India
The company has a massive presence in India
The cancer cure news is not the only big thing to come out of this British-Swedish Multinational. Despite being a foreign company, AstraZeneca is deeply embedded in the Indian healthcare system.
AstraZeneca India ltd was established in 1979 with its office in Bangalore. The company boasts a large workforce of more than 1400 employees.
Their goal has been to provide life-changing medication to people by using innovation and they have been able to do so.
AstraZeneca Bangalore also has a state of the art research and development facility which works on discovering newer drug treatments.
AstraZeneca Chennai houses a world-class drug manufacturing plant. This plant adheres to the high drug regulatory standards and boasts state of the art manufacturing facility. AstraZeneca Chennai accounts for a major percentage of their drugs produced.
Since 2014, Astrazeneca’s Global technology Centre which is their end to end IT solution segment has been a part of AstraZeneca Chennai.
The presence of such specialized centers shows the company’s commitment to innovative solutions.
What Are Antibody Drug Conjugates?
Astrazeneca is making biopharmaceutical pills using antibody drug conjugates, Credits: pxhere
DS-1062 is the name given to the drug which has been acquired by AstraZeneca. This drug comes under antibody-drug conjugates. Let us understand what they are.
Antibody-drug conjugates are a type of biopharmaceutical drug which are designed to kill cancerous cells. Their major advantage over existing cancer treatments such as chemotherapy is that they would only target cancerous cells.
Treatments such as chemotherapy damage the cancerous cells as well as the healthy cells when they are used. This makes treatment difficult and causes a lot of damage to the patient.
These antibody-drug conjugates could directly act on the cancerous cells without harming healthy cells and be effective treatments.
The potential in this class of drugs is enormous.
This form of treatment will be less painful than chemotherapy, Credits: Wikimedia Commons
Are There Any Drugs of This Class Currently Available?
Yes, there are some drugs approved for treatment that are classified under this class. AstraZeneca has a drug called Trastuzumab deruxtecan which is used for a specific type of breast cancer. They are looking to add more oncology drugs of this class to their locker.
Many pharma companies are researching this class of drugs, Credits: Wikimedia Commons
More than 50 pharmaceutical companies in the world are currently researching to develop more antibody-drug conjugates to battle cancer.
Takeaway
AstraZeneca India ltd could bring this drug which costs them over 3000 crore INR in the Indian market. The enthusiasm that the company has expressed shows that this drug and this drug class could really be a game-changer for cancer. AstraZeneca could continue to bring cancer cure news to suffering patients.