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Hyderabad , Nov. 24

HETERO Drugs Ltd (HDL), the pharmaceutical major with special focus on antiretrovirals, expects to bag a major portion of the anti-AIDS project sanctioned by the William J Clinton Research Foundation in favour of four Indian pharmaceutical companies last week.

Addressing a news conference here on Monday, the HDL Chairman and Managing Director, Dr Bandi Partha Saradhi Reddy, said Hetero was the only Indian pharmaceutical company that has bagged the contract for both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms for the supply of HIV/AIDS drugs to four African and nine Caribbean nations.

Of the four Indian companies, Hetero Drugs and Matrix Laboratories would supply APIs, while Ranbaxy, Cipla and Hetero would provide finished dosages for the Clinton Foundation project, worth around Rs 2,500 crore per annum over the next five years.

"Since we supply both APIs and finished dosages, we expect to contribute to nearly 40 to 50 per cent of the project," the HDL Director, Marketing, Mr M. Srinivas Reddy, said.

At present, APIs constitute nearly 85 of Hetero's topline, while 15 per cent was accounted by the formulations. Of the APIs, antiretrovirals constitute around 40 per cent of sales volume.

According to Dr Reddy, the company was able to substantially bring down the cost of production and the price of antiretroviral drugs with the help of a new process indigenously developed by the Hetero Research Foundation. As against $591 per month for a combination of antiretroviral drugs in the West, Hetero's drug combination costs about Rs 1,380 per month, approximately $29.35. HDL, which has been exporting antiretroviral drugs to Brazil and Argentina, has developed a range of 18 drugs in the segment.

The company has already received approvals from the United States Food and Drug Administration (for five of its molecules.

HDL is one of the three companies that had fulfilled the criteria for inspection by the World Health Organisation and received approval for all its antiretroviral finished dosage forms, Dr Reddy said.

Stating that the company does not have any plans to tap the capital market to raise funds required for its expansion programmes, Dr Reddy also refuted the market rumours on the company's plans to acquire a publicly held listed company.

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