MU partners with company to create drug development group
The company manufactures and exports active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Published Dec. 3, 2010
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Professor Kattesh Katti, professor Raghuraman Kannan and Shasun Director Abhaya Kumar cut the ribbon for the new drug development company. The company is a collaboration between MU and Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
MU celebrated its partnership with Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to create a new drug development company Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“This journey started about six or seven years ago, when (professor) Kattesh (Katti) came to my office when I was chairman of radiology and said, ‘Bob, we got to get into nanomedicine. That’s where the future is,’” MU School of Medicine Dean Robert Churchill said.
Michael Nichols, UM system vice president of research and economic development, said it seemed like only yesterday when Katti came to him saying, “I want to start this new company: Nanoparticle Biochem.”
According to a news release, Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is one of the world’s leading providers of ibuprofen and will join MU to develop promising new prostate cancer treatments using gold nanoparticles created at MU.
Prostate cancer is the second most deadly cancer for men. It is estimated that one in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer within his lifetime.
“Shasun is a global player in the field of pharmaceuticals,” Katti said. “They basically cure almost everybody’s headache, because they are the largest manufacturer of ibuprofen.”
Katti is a Curator’s Distinguished Professor of Radiology and Physics. He is also a Margaret Proctor Mulligan Distinguished Professor in Medical Research.
Katti said Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. symbolizes perfectionism at its best.
“And from what Kattesh has shared with me about the research that is going on across this campus, this university is clearly a leader in nanotechnology,” Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Founding Director Abhaya Kumar said.
Professor Raghuraman Kannan said Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is not investing solely in the Katti and Kannan team, but in the Katti and Kannan team that works at MU.
Kannan is the Michael J. and Sharon R. Bukstein Distinguished Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research, director of the Nanoparticle Production Core Facility and an assistant professor of radiology.
They have been studying their new treatment for more than five years. Little to no toxic side effects have resulted due to the study.
“This kind of research is really the fourth leg in the stool,” Nichols said. “They talk about three legs in the stool -- the fourth leg is research. And we need to make sure we put that out front at all times.”
Nichols said although the investment of resources is large, so is the potential benefit: high tech jobs in communities such as Columbia around the world.
“It can result in substantial sales and benefits back to the university and the state,” Nichols said. “One may not know, but MU researchers are responsible for nine out of the top 10 licensed products coming from the area of radio pharmaceuticals.”
Vice Chancellor for Research Rob Duncan said he thinks this is an opportunity to do something of paramount importance to the U.S. economy.
“This deal reverses outsourcing,” Duncan said. “This deal brings major investment capital (and) brilliant scientific collaborators from India to work closely with us here in the Midwest to create new high-end jobs.”
Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. was incorporated in 1976. Its headquarters are in Chennai, India. It is responsible for manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients and exports pharmaceutical products to various countries across Europe and North America.