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Hyderabad , Oct. 25

CLOSE on the heels of major boost from Lundbeck of Novartis withdrawing patent infringement suit against it, Matrix Laboratories Ltd , has bagged a mega contract from the US-based William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, promoted by the former American President, Mr Bill Clinton. The contract, for the supply of antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV and AIDS patients in certain developing countries, was also awarded to two more Indian pharmaceutical majors - Ranbaxy and Cipla - and a South African company - Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd.

In a communication to stock exchanges, Matrix Labs said the Clinton Foundation hoped to cover through its HIV/AIDS initiative programme sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the Caribbean countries. This represented a potential demand for antiretrovirals treatment for 1.5-2 million people within five years.

"The agreement is for the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for antiretrovirals for five years with automatic renewal of additional term of three year each," the company said.

According to Matrix, Clinton Foundation hopes to cover 2-million HIV patients by the end of the fifth year, which would represent a value of antiretroviral drugs worth over $ 400 million (approximately Rs 1,800 crore) per annum, taking the aggregate to $ 2,000 million (Rs 9,000 crore) by the end of fifth year.

Though the company did not mention the exact size of its share in the contract, it said: "Matrix, one of the key suppliers of APIs for the program, is expected to get a significant share."

Meanwhile, Mr Clinton announced in the US that his Foundation reached an agreement with drug manufacturers on a major reduction in the price of AIDS medicine. As a result, it would be easier to make life-saving drugs more widely available to people with AIDS in the developing world, he said.

According to Mr Clinton, "This agreement will allow the delivery of life-saving medicines to people who desperately need them. It represents a big breakthrough in our efforts to begin treatment programmes in places where, until now, there has been virtually no medicine, and, therefore, no hope."

Under the Clinton Foundation agreement, the price of one of the commonly used triple drug therapy combinations would be substantially reduced, available for less than $ 140 per person per year. This translates into a cost of just 36 to 38 cents per person per day. Overall, the Foundation agreement would be reducing by one-third to one-half the current price of drugs in the developing world.

According to the press release issued by Foundation, the antiretrovirals from the three Indian companies and one South African company were assessed to meet international quality standards by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and/or the Medicines Control Council of South Africa.

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