The wholly owned Swiss subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd has completed the purchase of two new biological entities CHR-1103 and CHR-1201 from Chromos Molecular Systems Inc, based in British Columbia, Canada, for an undisclosed sum.

The Two NBE''s are humanised monoclonal therapeutic antibodies.

Under the terms of the transaction between Glenmark will own all rights to the two products as well as rights to use Chromos proprietary ACE System technology for cell line development of the two entities and hold the global rights for further development, registration and commercialisation of these products.

CHR-1103 and CHR-1201 are part of a validated class of drugs known as selective adhesion molecule inhibitors (SAMI) that include such drugs as ReoPro used for ischemic stroke developed by Centocor and marketed by Eli Lilly, Raptiva for severe plaque psoriasis from Genentech and Xoma, and Tysabri for multiple sclerosis from Biogen and Elan.

CHR-1103 is said to be a broad anti-inflammatory agent ''with a novel mechanism of action'', being developed initially to treat a multiple sclerosis, for which there is no treatment has been approved, yet.

Glenamrk plans to initiate Phase I clinical trials on CHR-1103 in 2008, due for completion by March 2009.

CHR-1201 is an anti-thrombolytic humanised monoclonal antibody, which Glenmark plans to develop initially to treat acute strokes, for which the Phase I trials are expected to commence in March 2009.

"This is a very important addition to our pipeline of novel biological entitles," said Glenn Saldanha, managing director and CEO, Glenmark. "These two NBE''s would help accelerate our pipeline in the biologics space."

Michael Buschle, president, biologics, Glenmark Switzerland, said, "These therapies hold a lot of promise in areas of high unmet medical need and also fit very well within our areas of focus. We are delighted with the addition of these two highly exciting molecules to our rapidly pipeline".