[Ip-health] GSK/Ranbaxy joint press release on R&D collaboration

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.ranbaxy.com/newsroom/pressrelease_det.asp?sno=3D131

GSK AND RANBAXY TO COLLABORATE ON DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT* *

London and New Delhi, October 22, 2003

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (Ranbaxy) and GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) today
announced that they have entered into a drug discovery and clinical
development collaboration covering a wide range of therapeutic areas.

Several collaborative scenarios are envisioned, with GSK and Ranbaxy
leveraging their respective resources and expertise. Ranbaxy will be
responsible for activities from optimization of a lead compound to
generation of a development candidate. Leads may be provided by either
GSK or Ranbaxy. For a proportion of the candidates selected within the
collaboration, it is expected that Ranbaxy will conduct early clinical
work. GSK and Ranbaxy will form an Executive Steering Committee to
oversee the research. Once a compound has been selected as a development
candidate, in most instances GSK will complete development. GSK will
have the exclusive commercialization responsibilities worldwide, while
Ranbaxy will take the lead in India. Ranbaxy, with the consent of GSK
may co-promote in US and EU. The financial terms of the agreement were
not disclosed.

=93This collaboration provides an avenue to Ranbaxy to leverage its
discovery and early product development strengths and gain access to
cutting edge technologies,=94 said Dr. Rashmi Barbhaiya, President,
Research & Development, Ranbaxy.

"This agreement furthers our strategy of building strong collaborations
in drug discovery at the same time we accelerate our own internal drug
discovery programmes," said Dr. Tadataka Yamada, Chairman, Research &
Development, GlaxoSmithKline.

GlaxoSmithKline - one of the world's leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies-is committed to improving the
quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and
live longer. For company information, visit GlaxoSmithKline on the World
Wide Web at www.gsk.com.

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited - India's largest pharmaceutical company,
manufactures and markets branded generic pharmaceuticals and Active
Pharmaceutical Ingredients. Ranbaxy's continued focus on R&D has
resulted in several approvals in developed markets and significant
progress in New Drug Discovery Research. Ranbaxy's foray into Novel Drug
Delivery Systems has led to proprietary "platform technologies"
resulting in a number of products under development. The Company is
selling its products in over 70 countries and has an expanding
international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances,
ground operations in 25 countries and manufacturing operations in 7
countries.

For company information, visit Ranbaxy on the World Wide Web at
www.ranbaxy.com <http://www.ranbaxy.com>