BioVoice News November 2016 Issue 7 Volume 1 | Page 24

“ 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