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Cadila joins anti-AIDS drug-makers list

Cadila Healthcare Ltd has joined a growing list of Indian drug-makers hoping to export cheap generic anti-AIDS drugs, a top company official said on Monday. Cadila, which recently acquired a stake in German Remedies, has submitted its dossiers for anti-AIDS drugs lamivudine and zidovudine to regulatory authorities in eight countries for approval, company president Ganesh Nayak said.

"Our anti-AIDS drugs are in the final stages of clinical trial in Kenya and the sample dossiers have been submitted to authorities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, Ukraine, Zambia and Uganda," he told Reuters at the company's headquarters in the western city of Ahmedabad.

Three other Indian drug-makers have offered to supply a cocktail of stavudine, nevirapine and lamivudine at prices that are a thirtieth of US prices.

Cipla, India's third largest drug maker, Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals and unlisted Hetero Drugs have offered anti-AIDS drugs at prices ranging from $295 to $350 per patient per year, against $10-12,000 in the United States.

Cadila said it was yet to fix a price for its anti-AIDS drugs, but would match the levels quoted by any other Indian drug maker.

"We would at least match the prices quoted by other Indian manufacturers, but we are not looking at the anti-AIDS drug to make profit. It is more of a social service," Nayak said.

Indian drug-makers are able to offer anti-AIDS drugs at cheaper rates because they legally copy drugs developed by global pharmaceutical majors.

They can do this because Indian patent laws protect only the process by which a drug is made and not the drug itself, allowing Indian drug firms to make drugs under patent elsewhere provided they used a process different from the patent holder's.

Nayak said Cadila planned to increase the budget outlay for research and development in the coming years as the company strives to raise its standards to international level.

"We plan to spend about seven to eight per cent of the total sales on R&D efforts," he said.

Nayak said Cadila's turnover along with that of German Remedies would be close to Rs 10 billion at the end of 2001-02 (April-March).

Cadila's turnover for the year ending March 31 was Rs 5.08 billion, up from Rs 4.7 billion in the previous year.

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