Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Argenta Discovery in Harlow has announced what it describes as a "major milestone" in its development programme with India's third largest pharma company.

The partners are working on a novel disease-modifying approach to treat the the underlying cause of a number of chronic respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe asthma.

Argenta’s CEO, Dr. Christopher Ashton said: “Just 18 months after signing the deal with Dr. Reddy’s, the team has already selected the first candidate drug to proceed into pre-clinical development.

“With GMP material already manufactured we are on target to enter Phase I in mid-2008 and Phase II in 2009. We believe we are first-in-class for this inhaled anti-inflammatory approach to treat chronic respiratory disease.”

The licensing agreement, first announced in February 2006 sees Argenta and NYSE-listed Dr. Reddy’s collaborating to identify clinical candidates against an "undisclosed but proven" anti-inflammatory drug target and to develop the candidates to Phase II proof-of-concept.
Argenta initiated its first clinical trial with ADC4022 - an investigational medicine for the treatment of COPD and severe asthma - in November last year. The company employs around 150 people at its bases in Harlow and Slough.