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Hetero Drugs bags 7,000 kg AIDS drug tender from Brazil : The Financial Express
The Hyderabad-based Hetero Drugs, part of the $160 million Hetero group, has bagged an AIDS drug tender - for 7,000 kg of indinavir - from the Brazilian government, pipping a host of big Indian and international drug firms to the post.
The Hyderabad-based Hetero Drugs, part of the $160 million Hetero group, has bagged an AIDS drug tender — for 7,000 kg of indinavir — from the Brazilian government, pipping a host of big Indian and international drug firms to the post.
Hetero Drugs director (business development) Mr Dharmesh Shah said, Hetero’s supplies of indinavir active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) would translate into a price of approximately 27 cents per capsule. This is believed to be almost half of that offered by Merck for Crixivan (indinavir), the patented version.
Merck had, in March this year, said it would cut Crixivan prices to $600 per patient per year for sub-Saharan Africa. It had reduced prices of two AIDS drugs for Brazil significantly, resulting in a saving of $40 million per annum. “It’s more of a moral victory and we expect to execute the order over the next month or so. We have bagged the tender in the face of competition from others like Aurobindo, Ranbaxy and some Chinese/international firms,” Mr Shah told The Financial Express. Supplies would be made to the Brazilian government-run Far-Manguinhos in Rio de Janeiro.
The latest development comes just as the US recently announced that it is dropping its WTO complaint against Brazil in a dispute which largely revolves around whether specific AIDS drugs would be manufactured in the US or Brazil.
US Trade representative Robert Zoellick reportedly said the US and Brazil had established a new “bilateral consultative mechanism” to address the dispute. Under the deal, Brazil would have to notify the US in advance if it intends to require US patent holders to license Brazilian firms to produce anti-AIDS drugs. (The production of drugs to control AIDS helps Brazil save as much as $200 million per year on purchases from abroad, without infringing on any patent law). The immediate implications of Hetero’s deal in this context is, however, still unclear.
Hetero Drugs director (business development) Mr Dharmesh Shah said, Hetero’s supplies of indinavir active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) would translate into a price of approximately 27 cents per capsule. This is believed to be almost half of that offered by Merck for Crixivan (indinavir), the patented version.
Merck had, in March this year, said it would cut Crixivan prices to $600 per patient per year for sub-Saharan Africa. It had reduced prices of two AIDS drugs for Brazil significantly, resulting in a saving of $40 million per annum. “It’s more of a moral victory and we expect to execute the order over the next month or so. We have bagged the tender in the face of competition from others like Aurobindo, Ranbaxy and some Chinese/international firms,” Mr Shah told The Financial Express. Supplies would be made to the Brazilian government-run Far-Manguinhos in Rio de Janeiro.
The latest development comes just as the US recently announced that it is dropping its WTO complaint against Brazil in a dispute which largely revolves around whether specific AIDS drugs would be manufactured in the US or Brazil.
US Trade representative Robert Zoellick reportedly said the US and Brazil had established a new “bilateral consultative mechanism” to address the dispute. Under the deal, Brazil would have to notify the US in advance if it intends to require US patent holders to license Brazilian firms to produce anti-AIDS drugs. (The production of drugs to control AIDS helps Brazil save as much as $200 million per year on purchases from abroad, without infringing on any patent law). The immediate implications of Hetero’s deal in this context is, however, still unclear.