In a mid-morning panel on compelling business models for global health product development, Lisa Comte, CEO of Napo Pharmaceuticals, and Achim Gupta, Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, discussed how collaboration across time zones is working to bring to market Crofelemer, a novel first-in-class drug candidate for gastro-intestinal diseases.
Crofelemer comes from the South American tree croton lechleri, whose extract can treat diarrhea. It is the most advanced in Glenmark's pipeline of novel drugs. The collaboration seeks to not only bring an affordable anti-diarrhea drug to poor people of developing nations, but also to create a new model for the pharmaceutical industry.
"One of the key priorities is to bring the costs down," Gupta said. "It will not be the same pricing as western markets. We hope to be able to go out and reach as many patients as possible."