3M in talks to license drug delivery tech

KOLKATA: US-based $23-billion diversified technology firm 3M is in talks with top domestic pharma companies to licence drug delivery technologies. As a leading provider of asthma inhaler solutions to Indian companies, 3M plans to partner these firms in developing medicines which can be delivered through the skin (transdermal drug delivery). 3M expects its drug delivery division to be a future growth driver for its healthcare business in India. It wants to cash in on the recent trend among Indian pharma firms for innovative research, especially in drug delivery systems. The company is also exploring the option to conduct joint studies with Indian pharma firms.

“We have initiated talks with the top 10 Indian pharma companies for our transdermal drug delivery systems. The firms are identifying mole-cules which can be delivered through our technology,” 3M India’s vice-president and head of healthcare, Gautam Khanna, told ET.

Globally, 3M collaborates with pharma firms for product identification, pre-feasibility assessment till the commercialisation of drugs. Its trans-dermal drug delivery solutions are for a wide variety of molecules, in-cluding vaccine, protein and peptides.

3M, which is a global leader in inhalation drug delivery, churns out more than 60 million metered dose inhalers each year. The company already works with a host of Indian firms for their asthma inhalers. But Mr Khanna refused to name the Indian companies.

Apart from drug delivery, 3M is focusing on the health information system as a future growth area. This business was launched earlier this year in India. “We have a host of advanced software tools and services that help healthcare organisations improve quality of patient care, comply with regulations and shorten their revenue cycle,” Mr Khanna said.

3M is also exploring options for inorganic growth in India. The com-pany had earlier explored the area of acquiring new medical technol-ogy for infection prevention. “But we did not get a suitable target. We keep on exploring possible targets for medical technologies in India,” said Mr Khanna.