Novartis licences Torrent's AGE breaker molecule

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">AHMEDABAD: Two years after inking an option agreement with Swiss pharma major Novartis Pharma AG for its early stage AGE (advanced glycosylation endproducts) breaker compound, the Ahmedabad based Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd has finally entered into a license agreement with Novartis for global rights for the molecule.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">TPL had bagged an initial payment of $0.5 million in October 2002 for the option agreement for the molecule, that can be used to treat heart disease and diabetes related vascular complications.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">The license agreement now entitles Torrent to receive an upfront payment of $3 million and provides exclusive global rights to Novartis for further development and commercialisation of the compound, a company release has said.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">The agreement also envisages a long-term arrangement involving subsequent milestone payments as the molecule passes through various phases of clinical development, regulatory approvals and ultimate commercialisation.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Further, Torrent would receive royalties linked with global sales and lead the co-promotion of the compound in its home market.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">In addition to this AGE breaker compound licenced out to Novartis, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, which is involved in discovery research, has a pipeline of 7 discovery projects focusing on cardiovascular, diabetes and other metabolic disorders.</span></div> </div>