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Orchid inks $100m deal with Merck
Drug-maker Orchid Chemicals has entered into a $100 million licensing agreement with Merck & Co for discovery of anti-bacterial drug candidates....
2008-09-29 15:36:09
Orchid bags more than $100 mn Merck deal
BUS10Business/BusinessOrchid bags more than $100 mn Merck dealChennai, Sep 29 IANSA wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian drug major Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd OCPL has bagged a more than $100 million deal with US drug giant Merck & Co, for drug discovery, development and commercialization, a top OCPL official said here Monday.The deal was signed between the OCPL subsidiary Orchid Research Laboratories Ltd and an affiliate of the $24.2 billion turnover US drug giant Merck called MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd. OCPL is a city based Rs.12.40 billion turnover globally recognized, integrated pharmaceutical company with core competencies in the development and manufacture of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients APIs and finished dosage forms as well as in drug discovery."Orchid Research will undertake anti-infective drug discovery and candidate developments through phase II a human clinical trials. Merck will conduct late-stage clinical development and commercialization once regulatory approval is granted," C.B. Rao, deputy managing director, Orchid Chemicals told reporters here Monday.According to him, Orchid Research will be paid an undisclosed upfront sum and payments on achieving milestones."The total receipts will be over $100 million during the development stage. In addition when the drug is developed and passes through clinical trials, Orchid Research will license Merck to manufacture and sell world-wide for which there will be additional payment," said K. Raghavendra Rao, managing director.Orchid Research will form a 20 member team for the Merck project.According to Raghavendra Rao, the research arm is not in a hurry to raise cash for operations."The parent company will infuse necessary money. We will look at selling minority stakes to others a year later. With sufficient successful projects we can get better valuation," he added.He is confident that the $18 million foreign currency convertible bonds FCCB that would mature in 2010 would be converted into equity rather than being redeemed."The conversion price is Rs.240. The difference between the current market price of our scrip around Rs.217 and the conversion price will be bridged," he said.He said Indian drug major Ranbaxy Ltd. has not approached Orchid Chemicals for using the latter's facility for production. It may be noted one of Ranbaxy's arms holds 13.3 per cent stake in Orchid Chemcals.--Indo-Asian News Servicevj/arj/dg407 Words29091706
2008-09-29 08:00:09
Kochi holds flower show to promote Anthurium
Kochi, Sep.10 ANI: A five-day international Anthurium flower show held here recently drew several flower lovers.Organized by National Horticultural Board and the Kerala department of Agriculture, its objective was to promote the exotic flower's cultivation for commercial purposes.Anthurium, one of the most beautiful and exotic flowers mainly used for decoration purposes, attracted huge attention by its elaborate decorations made by experts here. Over 20,000 Anthuriums, said to be the 'queen of all tropical flowers', were exhibited in the show, of which 12,000 flowers were imported from various countries. The others collected from different states in India.The event also emerged as a rendezvous for many Anthurium lovers, enthusiasts, growers and companies.D Radhakrishnan, General Secretary, Exclusive International Anthurium Show, said: "The sole aim of this show is to promote, develop and bring more people to take up this cultivation commercially, which has a good business potential not only in the domestic, but also in the international market. Organisers said that climate in Kerala is best suited for growing Anthurium, but the flower is no popular here. Apart from foreign representative companies from Mauritius, Holland and Italy the Indian companies participating in the show included the Coorg Floriculture Association and South Indian Floriculture Association.A member of the Kodagu growers association, President of the Coorg Floriculture Association, A.R. Shivaprasad said: "Though its cultivation is bit expensive but he returns per hectare is estimated as 500,000 rupees per annum and there is a lot of demand in India itself. We are not able to cope up to meet exports demand of Anthurium. For the city dwellers it was a delight visiting the venue and learning more of this unique flower.The flower, if cultivated as a commercial crop for export and the domestic market, will create employment opportunities, apart from developing an agri-business.Indian flowers like roses, carnations, orchids, gladioli and anthurium are being well received in Japan, Netherlands, USA, Germany and France. Besides flowers, India also exports seeds, bulbs, dried flowers, ferns, leaves and grass.Anthurium grows in many forms, mostly evergreen, bushy or climbing epiphytes with roots that can hang from the canopy all the way to the floor of the rain forest.Anthurium flowers are small about 3 mm and develop crowded in a spike on a fleshy axis, called a spadix, a characteristic of the Araceae. The flowers on the spadix are often divided sexually with a sterile band-separating male from female flowers. This spadix can take on many forms club-shaped, tapered, spiraled, and globe-shaped and colors white, green, purple, red, pink, or a combination. By Juhan Samuel ANI
2008-09-10 09:00:00
Fiction review: 'Babylon Rolling'
Babylon Rolling By Amanda Boyden Pantheon; 307 pages; $23.95 Amanda Boyden's second novel follows five characters who live on Orchid Street in pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Hotel manager Arie...
2008-08-25 05:25:46
'We may be interested in buying back our stock'
Orchid Chemical and Pharmaceuticals co-founder and managing director K Raghavendra Raos characteristic suaveness cannot camouflage the mild bitterness he is feeling. The man who, along...
2008-08-16 04:47:32
Precious orchids stolen from park
Police and botanists condemn thieves who have dug up and stolen a rare type of orchid in Derbyshire....
2008-08-15 21:11:38

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Orchid inks $100m deal with Merck

Orchid bags more than $100 mn Merck deal

Kochi holds flower show to promote Anthurium

Fiction review: 'Babylon Rolling'

'We may be interested in buying back our stock'

Precious orchids stolen from park