Venus Remedies receives consent to conduct trials of cancer detection NCE

Venus Remedies has received consent from the Drugs Controller General India to carry out Phase III clinical trials of its cancer detection new chemical entity (NCE).

The company has created the solution for early cancer detection and this step towards Phase III will put the firm among the top businesses working towards identifying the disease in patients.

Dr Manu Chaudhary, director of research at Venus Medicine Research Centre (VMRC), said that NCE is a targeted delivery of diagnostic agent, enhancing the image quality several hundred times, allowing it to be differentiated from others.

Venus is aiming to launch the NCE in India's pharma industry by the last quarter of 2013.

Ms Chaudhary explained: "This NCE is based on selective tumour targeting because tumour-infiltrating blood vessels deviate morphologically and biochemically from normal vessels. 

"VRP1620 specifically increases tumour blood flow and this property has been utilised to promote delivery of cancer detection contrast media to the site of tumours via bloodstream."

The Phase I study of the solution took place at the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in the third quarter of 2010, before Phase II was carried out at a number of institutions across India, such as PGIMER, Chandigarh and Central India Cancer Research Institute.

"As of now, there is no such technology for early detection of small sized solid tumour available in the market across the globe and secondly, VRP1620 will help us in staging of tumours. Our technology omits false negatives," Ms Chaudhary noted.

Recently, Venus Remedies secured its first patent from Canada for its novel antibiotic adjuvant entity VANCOPLUS, which will be valid until May 2027.

It is hoped the product will be launched in Canada in the next two years, with the solution featuring Ceftriaxone  plus Vancomycin  along  with  an  adjuvant  which  restricts  the  production  of  toxin  by MRSA pathogens.

It is also highly effective when it comes to combating MRSA and offers a reduced treatment time, along with lower costs and a smaller number of adverse effects.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths