The Hindu Business Line : Global bodies endorse Indian cos' AIDS drugs

THE endorsement for generic or chemically equivalent anti-AIDS drugs doesn't get bigger than this. Four major players in the global funding and healthcare space - the Global Fund, World Bank, UNICEF and Clinton Foundation - have said that they would help source and distribute generic drugs and diagnostics at the "lowest prices" in developing countries.

The joint statement from Geneva, New York and Washington on late Tuesday has it repercussions in India, since a clutch of domestic pharma companies including Hetero, Ranbaxy, Matrix and Cipla are suppliers to some of these programmes.

Interestingly, the Indian companies are yet to strike an agreement with the Indian Government for their roll-out of anti-retrovirals or anti-AIDS drugs for HIV/AIDS patients in India.

The global development on the eve of World Health Day (April 7) assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of a recently concluded meeting in Botswana, spear-headed by the US Health Department - to discredit generic drugs and fixed-dose combination (FDC) drugs.

FDCs essentially reduce the pill-burden on the patient by having them take only two pills a day, as opposed to six.

While local pharma companies are happy with the endorsement by heavy-weights in the global health arena, representatives working on health issues in India feel that a lot more could be done in India as well.

"Multinationals will lose out on the FDC argument, since they are effective. But Indian companies supplying the drugs globally, should look at India too, as the Government initiates its roll-out of anti-AIDS drugs," points out Mr Anand Grover, Director (HIV/AIDS unit), Lawyers Collective.

A conservative estimate puts the market-size for domestic pharma companies at about Rs 100 crore per annum, he said.

Discussions between local pharma companies and the Indian Government, however, stand dead-locked over procurement prices and the discussion would re-commence only after the forthcoming elections.

Meanwhile, the global agreement from the Global Fund, the World Bank and UNICEF said that they would help countries gain access to drug and diagnostic prices negotiated by the Clinton Foundation.

The prices have been negotiated by the Clinton Foundation with five manufacturers of ARVs and five manufacturers of HIV/AIDS diagnostic tests. The drug firms include Aspen Pharmacare Holdings in South Africa and the mentioned Indian companies.

The price for the most common first line formulation under these agreements is as low as $140 (around Rs 6,118) per person per year, one-third to one-half of the lowest price otherwise available in most settings.

The diagnostic tests are from five medical technology companies and include CD4 tests (for blood-count) from Beckman Coulter Inc and Becton Dickinson and viral load tests from Bayer Diagnostics, bioMérieux and Roche Diagnostics.

The prices available for these tests under the agreement are up to 80 per cent cheaper than otherwise available in the market.

More Stories on : Pharmaceuticals | Health

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page