Digna seeks partners in China and India

Spanish company Digna Biotech has launched a search for new industrial partners in China and India to develop its portfolio of some 32 patents. Digna was set up in 2004 after the University Clinic of Navarra convened a group of 15 finance and investment companies including El Corte Ingles, Caja Navarra and the regional Navarran government. Pablo Ortiz, Digna's director general, said the task for the company was not to take a pharmaceutical product to the market but to develop the patent to the maximum. One patent is on a compound for the treatment of hepatitis C, he noted.

Digna's earlier 2007 sales forecast of 3.5 million euros ($4.8 million) was outstripped in the first half and Mr Ortiz now expects this to reach 7.0 million euros. Two licence accords have already been agreed: one with Ferrer will take effect this year and will bring in some 900,000 euros annually over the next five years for diagnostics technology; and the other with Isdin is on a cream for the treatment of a skin condition linked to fibrosis. This licence will bring in 8.0-10.0 million euros a year. A further deal is in train with the Netherlands group AMT for a licence on a product to treat a blood condition.