Cipla Pharmaceuticals

Cipla

WHO Prequalification Status of Cipla's Lamivudine and Zidovudine

Statements

June 17, 2004. World Health Organization. WHO statement on removal of two AIDS medicines from list of prequalified products.
June 16, 2004. Bill Haddad. Cipla Statement on WHO Prequalification of 3TC and AZT.
June 16, 2004. Carol Adelman, Jeremiah Norris and Jean Weicher for the Hudson Institute. Statement on World Health Organization’s delisting of Indian-made AIDS drugs from its prequalification list.
June 16, 2004. Medecins Sans Frontieres briefing note. Two Cipla AIDS Drugs Removed from WHO Prequalification List.
June 16, 2004. Brook Baker for Health GAP. Post Prequalification Rigor at the WHO.

News Stories

August 20, 2004. Megha Lodha for the Financial Express. Cipla Submits Fresh Data On Delisted Drug To WHO.
August 13, 2004. P.T. Jyothi Datta for the Hindu Business Line. Anti-AIDS drug: Cipla re-submits data to WHO.
July 16, 2004. Indo-Asian News Service. De-listing of drugs no comment on quality: WHO.
June 16, 2003. Sam Cage for the Associated Press. Two drugs off WHO's list of HIV medicines.
June 16, 2004. Lawrence Altman and Donald McNeil for the New York Times. U.N. Agency Drops 2 Drugs for AIDS Care Worldwide.
June 16, 2004. Keith Alcorn for AIDS Map. WHO removes Cipla AZT, 3TC products from prequalification list.

Cipla's Request for Compulsory Licenses in South Africa

On March 7, 2001, Cipla formally requested the South African Department of Trade and Industry to issue compulsory licenses to patents on the following HIV drugs: nevirapine, lamivudine, zidovudine, stavudine, didanosine, efavirenz, indinavir and abacavir. In May, Cipla South Africa announced plans to further request a compulsory license, hoping to manufacture certain drugs locally. See the Business Report Story.

Cipla's Letter of request.

CPT Statement on Cipla's request.

March 9, 2001. Amrita Nair-Ghaswalla for the Times of India. Are they corporate saboteurs or white knights?

March 8, 2001. Rachel Swarns for the New York Times. AIDS Drug Battle Deepens in Africa.

Cipla Offers to Provide Low-Cost Triple-Combination Therapy for HIV/AIDS

Indian generic drug manufacturer Cipla has offered to supply triple-combination therapy for HIV/AIDS for $350 per patient per year to Medicins San Frontieres. It has also offered to sell the therapy for $600 per patient per year to poor governments, on the condition that the recipient governments provide the drugs for free to those with HIV/AIDS. The cocktail consists of two 40 milligram tablets of stavudine, two 150 milligram tablets of lamivudine and two 200 milligram tablets of nevirapine. (Since making the initial offer, it has dropped the price for some poor governments.) Other Indian generic competitors, including Hetero and Ranbaxy have also offered lower prices on generic ARVs. The cost of this regimen in developed nations is $10,000- $15,000 annually.

July 31, 2001. Associated Press. Nigeria Launching Largest AIDS Program.
July 27, 2001. Dow Jones Asian Equities Report. Cipla To Provide AIDS Drug To Cameroon.
May 2, 2001. Reuters. India's Cipla to supply AIDS drugs to Nigeria
April 26, 2001. John Donelly fo the Boston Globe. Nigeria reaches deal with Indian firm to buy AIDS drugs.
On April 13, 2001, Reuters reported that Cipla had exported the first shipment of this triple therapy to MSF. See the story: Cipla starts $1-a-day AIDS drugs exports.
March 7, 2001. Mark Schoofs and Michael Waldholz for the Wall Street Journal. Price War Breaks Out Over AIDS Drugs. Story points out that Hetero Drugs Ltd., another Indian generic drug manufacturer, has offered the same triple therapy for $347 per patient per year.

HOME PAGE FOR CIPLA

Statements and Responses to the Offer

November 19, 2001. The Agua Buena Human Rights Association. People with AIDS in Honduras Blast CIPLA.
March 22, 2001. Meeting With Cipla. Joint UNAIDS/WHO Statement.
February 23 ,2001. CPT Response to MSF/Cipla Joint Statement
February 23, 2001. Progress Reported on Implementation of Offer for More Affordable Anti-AIDS Drugs. Joint Statement from Medicins sans Frontieres and Cipla.
February 12, 2001. Affordable AIDS drugs are within reach. Statement from World Health Organization Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland to her staff.
February 9, 2001. World Health Organization Response
February 8, 2001. South African Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's response to Cipla offer
February 7, 2001. Medicins Sans Frontieres press release
February 7, 2001. Treatment Access Campaign press release

News Stories

July 13, 2004. Reuters. Generic AIDS Pill Gets Patent in Africa.
October 16, 2001. Reuters. Cipla to set up Rs 100-cr unit, eyes exports.
September 5, 2001. Sitaraman Shankar for Reuters. Cipla Says Cheap AIDS Drug Exports Taking Off.
September 5, 2001. Economic Times. Cipla five-month sales up 21% at Rs 514cr.
July 12, 2001. Reuters Business News. Cipla cuts AIDS drugs price by 39 pct for India mkt.
April 10. 2001. John McLaughlin in TheStandard.com. Bad Medicine for Big Pharma.
March 23, 2001. Marjolein Harvey for WOZA Internet. Cheap Aids Drug Manufacturer Meets With UN Bodies.
March 16, 2001. Oakland Tribune. Botswana hopes to provide treatment for HIV victims.
March 16, 2001. The Financial Express. AIDS Activists Claim Victory.
February 27, 2001. Ramnath Subbu in The Hindu. Cipla ready with anti-AIDS drugs.
February 25, 2001, New York Times editorial. Fighting AIDS in Africa.
February 24, 2001, Dagi Kimani in the The Daily Nation. Why Not Take Up Offer of Cheaper AIDS Drugs?
February 24, 2001, UN Integrated Regional Information Network. Anger Over Drug Prices
February 23, 2001. Alix M. Freedan, Rachel Zimmerman, and Daniel Pearl in the Wall Street Journal. Offer to Sell Cut-Rate AIDS Drugs Failing to Draw Any Major Buyers.
February 22, 2001. Karl Vick in the Washington Post. Kenyan Orphanage Takes Initiative on AIDS Drugs. This is the first report of someone taking Cipla up on its offer.
February 16, 2001. Daniel Pearl in the Wall Street Journal. Companies Weigh Offer of Royalties For AIDS Drugs Aimed at Africa
February 16, 2001. Rachel Zimmerman in the Wall Street Journal. Drug Makers Are Prodded On Cut-Rate AIDS Medicines
February 14, 2001. Gro Harlem Brundtland in the International Herald Tribune, Cheaper Drugs Offer Hope in the War Against AIDS
February 8, 2001. Cipla In the News. Cipla offers cheap AIDS drugs. Reprinted from the Times of India.
February 8, 2001. Pan African News Agency. Firm To Sell Low-Priced AIDS Drugs For African Patients
February 8, 2001. Rachel Zimmerman and Jesse Pesta in the Wall Street Journal. Drug Industry Jolted by Cipla AIDS Drug Offer
February 8, 2001. Associated Press. Firm Offers to Make AIDS Drugs for free Distribution in Poor Nations.
February 7, 2001. Donald G. McNeil in the New York Times. Indian Company Offers to Supply AIDS Drugs at Low Cost in Africa.

Cipla's Request for Voluntary Licenses for specific HIV/AIDS Drugs

On Decmber 19, 2000, Cipla requested voluntary licenses for six HIV/AIDS drugs (lamivudine, zidovudine, fluconazole, stavudine, didanosine, nevirapine) from the companies that currently claim IP rights over them. On February 9, 2001, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer responded by requesting more time to consider the offer.

December 19, 2000 Letter from CIPLA to GlaxoWellcome.
December 19, 2000 Letter from CIPLA to Pfizer.
December 19, 2000 Letter from CIPLA to Bristol-Myers Squibb.
December 19, 2000 Letter from CIPLA to Boehringer Ingelheim.

Past Correspondences with GlaxoWellcome Regarding AZT and 3TC

Last year, GlaxoWellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline) wrote Cipla to assert their intellectual property rights for medicines containing zidovudine (AZT) and lamivudine (3TC) in Ghana and Uganda. Cipla had been exporting its product Duovir, a combination of zidovudine and lamivudine into these countries.

Ghana

August 10, 2000. Letter from GlaxoWellcome to CIPLA: Importation of Duovir into Ghana. Here is an html verison. Here is a bitmaped image.
September 22, 2000. Letter from Cipla to GlaxoWellcome in response to the above letter on importation of Duovir into Ghana.

Uganda

November 20, 2000 Letter from GlaxoWellcome to CIPLA regarding CIPLA's export of Duovir to Uganda.

Cipla's Offer to Donate Nevirapine to Combat Maternal HIV Transmitions

November 29, 2000. Letter from Dr. Hamied, Director of Cipla, to J.V.R. Prasada Rao, in which he confirms that child formulations are included in the Cipla offer.
November 21, 2000. Response from J.V.R. Prasada Rao of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in which he asks about the inclusion of child formulations for nevirapine.
November 7, 2000. Letter from Dr. Hamied, Director of Cipla, to India's National AIDS Control Organisation, offering to donate generic nevirapine to the government to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Misc.

February 18, 2003. Sarah Bosely for the Guardian. Yusuf Hamied, generic drugs boss.

Please send corrections or comments to mpalmedo@cptech.org

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