Uganda joint venture with Indian Rx firm

Details have emerged of a joint HIV/AIDS drugs venture between Indian generic firm Cipla and Uganda's Quality Chemical Industries (Marketletter October 15). A site has been selected near Kampala, Uganda, for the construction of a plant for the local production of triommune, a triple fixed-dose combination antiretroviral (lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine). The QCI/Cipla facility will eventually make 1.8 billion tablets of the medication per year.

The India-based newspaper, the Mangalorean, reports that "India has been the world's leading producer of generic [ARV] drugs because it was one of the few drug-producing countries that did not obey regulations on patenting." Yasin Masani, director of the Kampala-based Astra Pharma, a drug and surgical products importer, told the Mangalorean that "once Indian drugs started to come to Africa, around 1988-89, there was a near revolution." He added that the price of HIV/AIDS therapies fell from about $3,500 to $350-$400.

However, restrictions on the export of licensed drugs under the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs; Marketletters passim) have meant that Indian generic companies have been forced to adopt different strategies to supply drugs to countries such as Uganda, where the government "is committed to providing free ARVs for all those who need them," said QCI's managing director, Emmanuel Katongole. He added that "for us, TRIPs is a window of opportunity. India has ratified the TRIPs agreement, so it ceases to be a source of generic [HIV/AIDS] drugs for Africa."