Cadila Healthcare Ltd has announced that Zydus Cadila has got approval from the Drug Controller General of India for India's first new chemical entity (NCE).

The new drug Lipaglyn is the first Glitazar to be approved in the world, and the first NCE discovered and developed indigenously by an Indian pharma company, Cadila Healthcare said in a filing to the BSE.

A Glitazar is a two-in-one pill so to say, that will treat both diabetes as well as high levels of cholesterol and fat in the same patient.

Pankaj R. Patel, CMD, Zydus Cadila, said: “Lipaglyn provides patients suffering from diabetic dyslipidemia the option of a once-daily oral therapy that has beneficial effects on both lipid parameters as well as glycemic control.”

The company had dreamt of taking a molecule from the concept stage to the launch, and had realised this today, he added.

Lipaglyn was discovered by the Zydus Research Centre, the dedicated NCE research arm of the Zydus group.

With over 80 per cent of all diabetics patients seen to suffer from diabetic dyslipidemia, it is estimated that around 300 million people globally may be suffering from it.