The Hindu Business Line : 3 Ranbaxy products added to WHO list

New Delhi, Sept. 10 Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has said that three of its products have been added to the World Heath Organisation’s (WHO) pre-qualification list of antiretrovirals (ARVs). According to the Gurgaon-based company, this takes the number of Ranbaxy ARVs in WHO’s pre-qualification list to 15.

“Recent years have seen major reduction in the cost of ARVs and Ranbaxy has been on the forefront in providing affordable ARVs to patients across nations. We now need to look for other benefits for patients and develop smarter products. We are delighted with these new approvals and believe this will benefit patients immensely,” said the Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO and MD, Ranbaxy, in a statement.

The products consist of compliance packs, designed to help patients be more regular with their medication, and contain two fixed dose combination tablets of Lamivudine/Zidovudine or Lamivudine/Stavudine with a single tablet of Efavirenz. According to Ranbaxy the two ‘Lamivudine/Stavudine + Efavirenz’ formulations are the first by any company on the WHO list. Ranbaxy, whose ARV’s are sold in over 50 countries, has filed for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for a range of ARVs.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh is reported to have told a television channel in Singapore that the company was not hiving off its R&D division just yet, but was considering different models. Mr Singh said that R&D was an extremely integral part to the company’s growth strategy. However, the company would require a fair amount of investment to continue to build the pipeline of New Chemical Entities, and was exploring opportunities that would enable it to do that through a series of different models. The company is expected to take a final decision on the structure in the next three to four months.

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