Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Thursday, November 28, 2002
Sitaraman Shankar

Ranbaxy, India's top drug-maker in terms of sales and which competes with Cipla Ltd CIPL.BO to offer cut-price anti-AIDS medication, said it planned to produce drugs to treat up to a million AIDS patients over the next two years.

"We've been offering a three-drug cocktail at around $300 per patient per year, and should be able to cut prices by around 10 percent within a year due to greater economies of scale," Managing Director Davinder Brar told Reuters from New Delhi.

But he said the extent of the cuts would depend on demand.

"Our biggest market will be Africa, followed by India and some countries in South East Asia and parts of South America," he said.

Brar said he estimated 650,000 people in India needed anti-AIDS drugs, but only about 30,000 were actually receiving treatment.

The three drugs in the cocktail are lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine, whose patents are controlled by multinational drug companies GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L , Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY.N and Boehringer Ingelheim respectively.

Ranbaxy has filed for marketing approvals for its anti-AIDS drugs in 54 countries in the past 18 months, it said in a statement. These are countries where the multinational patents either do not apply or are not strictly enforced.

In addition, six of Ranbaxy's anti-AIDS drugs have been pre-qualified for purchase by the World Health Organisation.

Ranbaxy makes a wide range of drugs including antibiotics and cardiac drugs. It is a major producer of generics, with exports accounting for nearly two-thirds of revenue in the past quarter to September.

WHERE'S THE DEMAND?

But Cipla chairman Yousuf Hamied, whose firm first grabbed headlines in February 2001 with its offer to sell the triple-drug anti-AIDS cocktail at less than $1 per patient a day, said demand continued to be a problem.

He said the rock-bottom prices were still too high for many and health infrastructure in poor countries was inadequate.

"If the world community wanted it, India could certainly step up production. Cipla, for one, could supply drugs to treat as many as three million patients a year if needed," he told Reuters.

"But there are only about 30,000 patients on the triple-drug therapy in Africa today. Where is the demand?"

The United Nations says that about 42 million people will be living with HIV/AIDS at the end of this year, of which over 30 million will be in Africa.

Bombay-based Cipla's offer last year to sell anti-AIDS drugs at a thirtieth of the then-prevailing price sparked controversy, forcing multinationals to cut prices. It also fuelled a debate on access to cheap drugs for patients in poor countries.

Cipla will soon introduce a new once-daily anti-AIDS therapy kit under the brand name Odivir, Hamied said.

The new drug is a combination of efavirenz or nevirapine, lamivudine and didanosine.

The patent on efavirenz is controlled by Merck & Co MRK.N and on didanosine by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

"We can easily meet global requirements for these drugs at the level at which patients are treated today," Hamied said.
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