Aurobindo Bests Cipla's AIDS Drug Offer

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Aurobindo Bests Cipla's AIDS Drug Offer

BOMBAY (Reuters Health) Jun 20 - Indian drugmaker Aurobindo

Pharmaceuticals has offered to supply stavudine, nevirapine and

lamivudine combination therapy to the world's poor at $295 per

patient per year — lower than the price offered by rival Cipla

in February.

Aurobindo's Managing Director Ramprasad Reddy told Reuters on

Wednesday that his company, like Cipla, had made its offer to

international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), other

non-government organisations, and foreign governments.

" Ours is probably the lowest price in the world, " he

said by telephone from his office in Hyderabad.

" We have made an identical offer at $295 to all buyers,

and there are no conditions attached, " he added. The triple

combination therapy costs between $10,000 and $12,000 per

patient per year in developed countries.

Cipla, India's third-largest drugmaker, shook the global

drug industry by offering the three drugs at $350 per

patient per year. It was soon followed by a small

unlisted firm Hetero Drugs that said it could supply

the drugs at $347.

" We followed our initial offer to MSF with letters to

UNICEF, UNAIDS, the World Bank, and multilateral aid

agencies, and expect a team from the World Health

Organisation to inspect our facilities after they study

our proposal, " Reddy said.

Reddy said Aurobindo was in the process of filing

registration dossiers for the drugs in South Africa,

Namibia, Zimbabwe, Brazil and a few other countries.

He said the facilities had already been approved by

the South African drug authorities

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