Bangalore, Monday 04 December 2006:

In order to raise awareness and spread the knowledge body within the research community AstraZeneca is presenting 12 posters that document the various phases involved in developing an effective cure for Tuberculosis (TB) at the International Symposium on New Frontiers in Tuberculosis Research being held in New Delhi December 4th through 6th. This symposium is being held at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB) campus. AstraZeneca is also among the sponsors of this major conference.

Modern Anti-infective Drug Discovery has many phases starting with identification of the drug target, its validation, identifying the small molecules that inhibit the target enzyme, the mode of action studies (i.e. by which mechanism the organisms get killed), testing the molecule in animal models and monitoring the efficacy and the correlation with the bioavailability at the site of the bacterial infection. The 12 posters being presented at the conference are spread across the entire spectrum of all the stages described above.

The entire gamut of the drug discovery pathway starting from target identification to inhibitor screening to the mechanism of action studies to efficacy studies in various in-vitro and in-vivo animal models to evaluating pharmacological drivers of the compound to its synthesis is being showcased by AstraZeneca in this symposium.

Dr. T. S. Balganesh, Vice President, Discovery, AstraZeneca Bangalore, said “AstraZeneca has specially chosen young researchers who are drivers of the research to present each of the posters. Tuberculosis is one of India’s biggest public health concerns. India has the largest number of TB cases in the world, currently standing at 16 million, more than double that of China.”

AstraZeneca India has made a major commitment to develop a cure for the deadly disease TB that infects and kills millions of people each year mostly in the developing economies. AstraZeneca is conducting its research on developing a cure for TB at its Avishkar Discovery Research Centre of Excellence located in Hebbal, Bangalore. The Centre is headed by Dr. Balganesh. Over 90 scientists recruited from leading research institutions and universities work at the Centre, in close collaboration with AstraZeneca’s infection research centre in Boston, Massachusetts, and with external academic leaders in the field. Its programmes include the first major effort in 40 years to find new cures for TB and so far AstraZeneca has invested more than $40 million.