Shilpa Medicare inks pact with MPP, Gilead for HIV/AIDS drugs

NEW DELHI: Drug firm Shilpa Medicare today inked an agreement with Medicines Patent Pool and US-based biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences to increase access to medicines used for treatment of HIV/AIDS.


"Shilpa has signed an agreement with The United Nations- backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and Gilead Sciences to increase access to medicines for HIV/AIDS treatment," Shilpa Medicare said in a filing to BSE.

The company will now be able to produce five key HIV medicines such as Tenofovir, Emtricitabine, Cobicistat, Elvitegravir and a combination of the four - the Quad - for sale in over 100 countries, it added.

Shilpa Medicare joins five other generic manufacturers who are currently signed up to produce HIV medicines licensed to the MPP by Gilead Sciences in July 2011, including two API manufacturers, Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) said in a release on its website.

Under the agreement, Shilpa will also benefit from technology transfer to aid generic manufacture of these medicines. The fourmedicinesin-one "the Quad" received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration on August 27, 2012, it added.

Medicines Patent Pool is a United Nations-backed organisation that offers a public-health driven business model which aims to lower the prices of HIV medicines and facilitate the development of better-adapted HIV medicines in developing countries.

Commenting on the development Shilpa Medicare Managing Director Vishnukant Bhutada said: "We are delighted to be working with the Medicines Patent Pool and Gilead Sciences to speed the development of HIV treatments for people who need it and have struggled to access it."

Reva Pharma, an associate company of Shilpa Medicare will assist in marketing these products, Shilpa Medicare said.

Shares of Shilpa Medicare today closed at Rs 254 per scrip on BSE, up 0.12 per cent from its previous close.