  
Cipla to supply AIDS drugs to Nigeria
Last Updated: 2001-05-02 12:49:31 EDT (Reuters Health)
BOMBAY (Reuters) - Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd, which startled global drug firms in February by offering to supply AIDS drugs to a charity at less than $1.00 a day, said on Wednesday it would supply $3.5 million worth of AIDS drugs to Nigeria.
Cipla joint managing director Amar Lulla told Reuters that the company had signed a deal with the Nigerian ministry of health, and he expected the first consignment to be shipped this month. "I'm happy [the] supply to Africa is starting," he said. "We are in talks with several African governments to supply our AIDS drugs."
The drugs will be used to treat 10,000 Nigerian patients initially, Lulla said. He added that the cost worked out to $350 per patient per year. Cipla had offered lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine combination therapy at $350 per patient per year to the international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) provided that MSF gave the drugs away free.
The exports come at a time when the much larger South African market for AIDS drugs is opening up to generic drugmakers like Cipla. On April 19, the world's biggest drugmakers abandoned a bid to stop South Africa from importing generic versions of their AIDS drugs by withdrawing a court case opposing implementation of a South African drug law.
Cipla has applied for permissions to market its AIDS drugs in South Africa. The company has already supplied a consignment of drugs to MSF for distribution in Cambodia.
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