Jump to content
RemedySpot.com

Cipla cuts AIDS drugs price by 39 pct for India mkt

Rate this topic


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

Guest guest

Dear Forum members,

Finally, Indians in India will get the cut rate prices on these drugs!

______________

Cipla cuts AIDS drugs price by 39 pct for India mkt

Reuters World ReportThursday, July 12, 2001 8:15:00 AM

BOMBAY, July 12 (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd,

which stunned global drug firms in February by offering a

three-drug cocktail to fight AIDS to the world's poor at less

than $1 a day, said on Thursday it had slashed its domestic

price for the combination by 39 percent.

India's third largest drugmaker by market share said in a

statement it had reduced the price of the lamivudine, stavudine

and nevirapine cocktail to 2,130 rupees ($45.17) a month from

3,495 rupees.

The new price took effect on Tuesday.

" We are passing on to patients the impact of cost savings

from improved production processes, " a Cipla official told

Reuters. " We want to make the treatment affordable to more

Indian patients. "

But the three-drug cocktail's annual price per patient in

India actually works out substantially higher than Cipla's

lowest international price of $350, offered to French charity

Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Local taxes and Cipla's margins to retailers push the

domestic price up to $542.10. No decision had yet been taken

on cutting international prices, said the official, who

declined to be identified.

GlaxoKline controls the patent on lamivudine,

Bristol-Myers Squibb holds patents on stavudine and Germany's

Boehringer Ingelheim on nevirapine.

Cipla is able to offer the drugs at such a low price

because, like other Indian firms, its production costs are much

lower than those of global firms.

It also does not have to invest heavily in research as

Indian law allows firms to copy drugs under patent in the West,

provided they use a different process.

In two weeks, Cipla plans to launch a copy of efavirenz, an

AIDS drug for which US giant Merck & Co holds the patent, the

official said.

Earlier this week, the company launched a combination tablet

of stavudine and lamivudine, the first of its kind in the world,

he added.

Cipla also cut prices of other AIDS drugs like zidovudine,

didanosine and indinavir by 14-33 percent from Tuesday.

The company announced the price cut after Indian markets

closed on Thursday.

Cipla's shares ended up 0.53 percent at 1,117.60 rupees on

the Bombay Stock Exchnage, while the benchmark Bombay index

closed up 2.27 percent.

__________________________

Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

______________________________________________

Forwarded by:

Ushma D. Upadhyay, M.P.H.

Research Writer

Population Reports, Center for Communication Programs

s Hopkins School of Public Health

111 Market Place, Suite 310

Baltimore, MD 21202-4020

Phone: (410) 659-6254

Fax: (410) 659-2645

E-mail: uupadhyay@...

http://www.jhuccp.org/pr/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...