E-DRUG: Cipla Launches 3-In-1 AIDS Pill
-----------------------------------------------------
[A 3-in-1 ARV combination tablet at USD 459 per year, taken twice a day,
might be helpful to increase adherence in developing countries.
The ingredients of this 3-in-1 might are not protected in the following
African countries:
Algeria, Angola, Cape verde, Djibouti, Eq Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea,
Guinea-Biassau, Liberia, Libya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, Zaire/DRC. Other countries might need to do a
compulsory license procedure or ask for a voluntary license.
Crossposted from Pharm-policy with thanks.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010806/hl/aidspill_1.html
Copied as fair use. NN]
India: Cipla Launches 3-In-1 AIDS Pill
BOMBAY (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd said on Monday it had
launched a three-in-one tablet to treat AIDS (news - web sites), the
first combination medicine in the world of the three drugs stavudine,
lamivudine and nevirapine.
Cipla, which shot into international prominence in February by offering
to supply a cocktail AIDS drugs for less than $1 a day, said in a
statement a month's supply of the new pill, Triomune, would cost
patients 1,800 rupees ($38.21).
The statement said the price represented a five to six-fold reduction in
the monthly cost of therapy.
The new product is the first combination of the drugs anywhere in the
world basically because the patents on the three drugs are controlled by
different companies.
Britain's GlaxoSmithKline holds the patent for lamivudine, Germany's
Boehringer Ingelheim the patent on nevirapine and US drug giant
Bristol-Myers Squibb the patent on stavudine.
Cipla is allowd by Indian patent law to make drugs that are patented by
other companies internationally as the law protects only the processes
by which drugs are made, and not the drugs themselves.
This means Indian companies can make drugs under patent in the West,
provided they use a process that is different from the original.
In February, the company offered to supply the three drugs to
international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for $350 per
patient per year, a thirtieth of the US price.
[CIPLA can be contacted at corporate@cipla.com]
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Information and archive http://satellife.healthnet.org/programs/edrug.html
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.