GangaGen, Eli Lilly tie up to outlicense novel product

GANGAGEN Life Sciences Inc has signed an agreement with Elanco Animal Health, an Eli Lilly division, for collaborative research, licencing and commercialisation of anti-bacterial products derived from bacteriophages.

The company's President and CEO, Dr J. Ramachandran, did not disclose the financial terms. Elanco, with operations in 100 countries, develops and markets animal health products.

Gangagen is banking on developing its technologies into anti-bacterial products in a couple of years for cattle, poultry, and humans for hospital- and urinary tract infections.

It expects revenues of $50 million by 2009-10 from these products, Dr Ramachandran said.

The company has demonstrated the benefits of its first phage product for the control of E.coli 0157 in cattle and expects to complete large-scale field trials and get regulatory approval for the product.

It has so far invested up to $5 million in its research and will be putting in another $6-8 million soon. It has received a $2-million funding from ICF Ventures. Gangagen recently received two broad US patents for its bacteriophage technologies.

The tie-up will build on Gangagen's phage technology expertise and Elanco's commercial experience, Dr Ramachandran said. Eli Lilly was an early innovator of phage technology in the 1930s before the introduction of antibiotics.

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