Bristol-Myers Squibb grants licenses to generic drug companies
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Bristol-Myers Squibb is to grant licenses to generic drug compa-
nies allowing them to manufacture and sell versions of its HIV
drug, atazanavir, in Africa and India.
The company will grant a royalty-free license to Aspen Phar-
maCare and Emcure Pharmaceuticals to manufacture and sell ata-
zanavir in sub-Saharan Africa. A separate agreement has been
concluded with Emcure covering India.
Atazanavir, marketed by Bristol-Myers as Reyataz, is a once-
daily protease inhibitor for HIV/AIDS that was initially ap-
proved in the US in June 2003 for use in combination therapy
with other anti-HIV medicines.
Under the agreement, Bristol-Myers will provide a license to op-
erate under relevant patents and will transfer to Aspen and Em-
cure its technical know-how related to the manufacturing, test-
ing, packaging, storage and handling of the active pharmaceuti-
cal ingredient and the finished dosage form of atazanavir.
"This agreement builds on Bristol-Myers' long-standing commit-
ment to the global fight against AIDS," said Peter Dolan, CEO,
Bristol-Myers Squibb. "In Sub-Saharan Africa, where the HIV/AIDS
pandemic has been especially devastating, we've taken a broad-
based approach to addressing the AIDS crisis, including provid-
ing our AIDS medicines at no profit prices and committing to en-
sure our patents do not prevent inexpensive treatment in the re-
gion," continued Mr Dolan.