Leading Indian pharmaceutical companies such as Nicholas Piramal, Orchid Chemicals and Jubilant Organosys, have tied up with foreign companies to leverage technology, talent and cost-benefits to develop new chemical entities (NCE). Zydus Cadila, the latest to join the bandwagon, announced on February 4 a collaboration with Karo Bio of Sweden, an upcoming drug discovery company with expertise in nuclear receptors (a group of specific drug targets), structural biology and drug design. FOREIGN AID # Pharma firms such as Nicholas Piramal, Orchid Chemicals and Jubilant Organosys have tied up with foreign companies. # The Indian firms hope to leverage technology, talent and cost-benefits while developing new chemical entities Under the collaboration, which is for three years, Karo Bio will develop novel leads for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowels disease, psoriasis and asthma, which together represent a potential market of $10 billion. "In India, new drug discovery research is in a nascent stages and it will take years for us to develop certain technologies and knowledge critical for drug development. Collaborations bring synergies into the process and critical knowledge,' said Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya, chief executive and managing director of Advinus Therapeutics, a Tata Group funded drug discovery company. Advinus, which is developing drugs with multinational drug major Merck, also has a discovery programme with the Swiss-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a non-profit R&D organisation, to devise novel therapies for visceral leishmaniasis or kala azar, an India specific disease. "Collaborations bring in synergy and global scale in research efforts. The investments can be fructified by developing a global blockbuster drug, which will be a huge business opportunity for both the parties,' said Venkat Jasti, vice-chairman and managing director of Suven Life Sciences, the Hyderabad-based drug discovery company. A few months ago, Suven teamed up with researchers at University of Minnesota, USA for developing new therapies to treat HIV/AIDS patients.