Top management officials at Nicholas Piramal said that IM862 is in phase three trials and patents have already been filed in the US. Phase one and phase two trials were done in the US, Europe and Belgium. "We are also refiling for patents in India. The compound could be useful in AIDS too," he said.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted Cytran Inc a patent for the anti-angiogenesis effects of IM862. The patent covers claims for IM862 to inhibit angiogenesis--the aberrant growth of new blood vessels--in a number of pathological conditions, including malignant tumors, age-related macular degeneration, and vascular diseases. IM862 is a naturally occurring peptide that can be synthesised and manufactured using conventional pharmaceutical peptide technology.

Indications are that the marketing rights for the drug, if successful, will be shared between Cytran and Nicholas Piramal, with the latter concentrating on the Asian markets. Cytran has invested around $30-40 million in the project over a period, officials said.

Cytran Inc is a privately held biopharmaceutical company, developing and commercialising small peptide compounds for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. The company already holds patents for the immune-modulating effects of IM862, as well as for methods of delivery and pharmaceutical formulations of the drug, in all major world markets.

While details on the anti-infective NCE could not be obtained, Nicholas Piramal is currently conducting clinical trials on an anti-malarial compound, 80/53, acquired from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and aimed at combating chloroquine-resistant malaria.

Officials said that Nicholas was working on around 40 research projects and expects to double R&D investment in due course. In 1998-99, Nicholas Piramal spent Rs 24.58 crores on R&D, representing 5.56 per cent of total turnover.

"We also expect to announce two R&D alliances in the fourth quarter of this fiscal," the official said. Analysts say that one of the alliances could involve a western contract research organisation.

Meanwhile, the company is in talks with German multinational Hoechst Marion Roussel to acquire its Haemaccel production facility (occupying roughly 11,000 sq m) in Mulund, a north-east Mumbai suburb. The deal is also expected to cover the Rs 20 crore parenteral nutrition Haemaccel brand. Nicholas Piramal had earlier acquired Hoechst's R&D centre in Mulund, in Mumbai.