CIPLA Notice to NGO on AIDS Drugs

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CIPLA NOTICE TO US NGO ON AIDS DRUG

22 Aug, 2007, 0046 hrs IST,Khomba Singh, TNN

NEW DELHI: Domestic major Cipla has sent a legal notice to the AIDS

Healthcare Foundation, the US-based NGO which has alleged that the Indian

company is selling its anti-AIDS drug, Viraday, in India at two and half times

the price it sells in Africa.

Cipla joint MD Amar Lulla told ET, " We do not sell Viraday tablets in

Africa. We have send a legal notice to the NGO asking them to apologise with an

advertisement for their false allegations. " He claimed that the NGO has

apologised, but the company wants the clarification to be issued at a public

forum. Cipla is one of the largest exporters of antiretroviral drugs worldwide

and its drugs are sold in 60 countries.

However, the NGO refuted the company's claim and continues to stand its ground.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Asia Pacific bureau chief Dr

Chingkholal Thangsing said: ³We have no reason to apologise. There has been some

technical (grammar) error in the advertisement. We will withdraw that technical

aspect but continue with our campaign.²

He added that Cipla has ³offered to sell the drug at Rs 21,000 per year to

Medical Sans Frontier (MSF)² which means that the company is willing to sell the

drug at that price. In India, the drug is sold at Rs 54,000, thus restricting

access to many AIDS patients, he claimed.

Though the company had indeed offered to sell the drug to MSF at the Rs 21,000

price, it was never sold and the offer has already been withdrawn, Mr Lulla

added. The NGO has replied to Cipla¹s earlier notice after the NGO went public

with its allegation earlier this month. However, the NGO is yet to reply to the

legal notice from Cipla which has asked it to apologise for its allegations.

On August 9, the NGO had alleged that Cipla¹s drug, Viraday tablets, is

available to a patient in Africa for Rs 21,200 for a year¹s treatment while it

costs Rs 54,000 in India. The NGO had issued advertisement in leading Indian

newspapers with the same allegations. Viraday tablet is Cipla¹s generic

three-in-one combination antiretroviral therapy that AIDS patients have to take

just once a day.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) is

expected to probe the NGO¹s allegation. Meanwhile, it is learnt that some global

organisations have also shown interest in these developments. UNAIDS and World

Health Organisation (WHO) have sought details of the allegation from Aids

Healthcare Foundation.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Cipla_notice_to_US_NGO_on_AIDS_drug/articles\

how/2299186.cms

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Devaki Nambiar

e-mail: <devaki_nambiar@...>