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startup tracker
“Dr Vijay Kanuru is a rare scientist who
straddles multiple disciplines, nanotechnology
and biotechnology. I am impressed by his focus on
applying his knowledge to practice, and his diligent
attention to scientific details as
much as to commercial aspects.
His passion for using technology
to develop products to solve
human problems at affordable
cost will, I am sure, result in many
successful outcomes.”
Mr Pradip Shah, Investment Advisor and
founder, CRISIL
pipe-line for cancer treatment
and currently there are six drug
candidates at various stages
of development. The company’s
drug pipeline is classified in
to two product verticals:
Nanoparticles of
Phytochemicals and
Nanoparticles of Herbal extracts.
Oncocur’s novel phyto-nano drug
candidate efficacy has been tested
against patient-derived cancer cell
lines and animals. “Our preclinical investigation
demonstrates greater efficacy as
compared to standard anti-cancer
drugs available in the market,
more importantly with no or
minimal side effects,” says Dr
Vijay Kanuru, Chief Executive
Officer, Oncocur India. “One of
the herbal lead candidate SH215
improved efficacy and decreased
toxicity of the standard drug in
breast cancer animal models. “We
are in the process of launching
Curcumin (Turmeric extracts)
anti-cancer adjuvant based
ayurvedic proprietary medicine
based on these findings.” adds
Dr Kanuru.
The intellectual property has been
24
BioVoiceNews | November 2016
filed in the form of patents by the
Oncocur team and few more are
underway. Its business model is
more focused on developing
intellectual property and
realisation of patents. The first
revenues are expected in 2017
through proprietary ayurvedic
medicine products. The
company’s founders say that its
unique strength comes from the
ability to understand market
needs, core competency in
nanobiotechnology,
phytochemicals and low cost drug
discovery. Besides that, more
essentially the strong
collaborative skills with partners
and stake holders to maintain
the cost effectiveness also helps
the company.
“The global oncology market is
expected to be $150 billion and
the demand for cost effective and
safer anti-cancer drugs cannot be
over emphasised. As per Cancer
Research UK, as high as 40
percent of cancer patients use
alternative herbal based medicine
along with standard of care.
Therefore, we believe our
nanoparticles of phytochemical
drugs would be a great boon to
The company
has already
collaborated
with leading
academic
institutes like
Savitribai Phule
Pune
University,
research
institutes such
as National
Centre for Cell
Science and
APT Research
Foundation. In
addition,
Oncocur India
is closely
working with
prestigious Ivy
league
institutions
such as the
University of
Cambridge, UK.
patients primarily due to better
efficacy, low drug toxicity and
affordability,” added Dr Kanuru.
Moving to the next level
Talking about the challenges as