A joint research collaboration between University of Hyderabad (UoH), National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and IKP Knowledge Park over the last two years has culminated in the successful completion of a pre-clinical study on the anti-cancer drug ‘Temozolomide’ in animal models.

Temozolomide is the only drug approved for brain tumour. The stability of this otherwise potent chemotherapy is compromised due to degradation in storage and shelf handling, causing dark brown discoloration of the drug powder.

The research group of Prof. Ashwini Nangia at School of Chemistry, UoH developed stable pharmaceutical co-crystal of Temozolomide which overcomes the discoloration problem to give a stable, improved crystalline form of the drug.

Then in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Coordinator, Preclinical Toxicology at NIN, they tested the stable Temozolomide co-crystal with the reference drug in animal models to establish bioequivalence and bioavailability and drug transport, it was informed in a press release.

Temozolomide co-crystal is 100-110 per cent efficacious compared to the parent drug. Additionally, pharmacokinetic parameters and haematology and drug metabolism and half life for the stable Temozolomide co-crystal are equal to or better than the pure drug.

This collaborative project is a success story of the Knowledge-to-Equity program of the Ministry of Science and Technology as part of which academic discoveries get a platform for drug translation to the market in PPP model.

This pre clinical research project was part-funded by Department of Biotechnology to Crystalin Research, a start-up R&D venture founded by Dr. Nangia in 2010 at Technology Business Incubator on UOH campus.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> S & T> Health> Medicine / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – February 19th, 2014