Cipla Offers Modest AIDS Drug Price Cut: 'Not Nearly Enough,...( NEW DELHI Dec. 13 -- As part of ...),Health

NEW DELHI, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing global campaign to lower drug prices and improve access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatments in India and worldwide, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today responded to a modest price cut recently offered in India by generic drug manufacturer, Cipla, on three of its antiretroviral drugs to fight HIV/AIDS. The cost reduction comes on the heels of an AHF-led advocacy campaign aimed at pressuring Cipla to lower its prices in India -- a campaign that revealed a price difference of 150% between what Cipla has offered African and Indian purchasers for the lifesaving antiretroviral combination Viraday.

"We applaud Cipla's recent price cut as a small step in the right direction. However, a price cut of 5% to 15% is nowhere near enough to make Cipla's lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs affordable and accessible to all Indians in need," said Chinkholal Thangsing, M.D., Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and a medical provider based in New Delhi. "We urge Cipla to make the dramatic price cuts necessary to ensure that its own countrymen and women will benefit from the company's ability to produce cheap medicines -- just as those in Africa and other parts of the developing world have benefited."

AHF has learned that Cipla's recent price reduction was offered as a gift from Cipla to all Indian patients on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Physicians have received communication regarding the new prices, which have been available since December 1st, World AIDS Day.

The following chart details the price reduction offered in both Indian rupees and US dollars:

Cipla Drug Old Price INR (US $) New Price INR (US $)

Viraday 54000 (US $1341) 46800 (US $1163)

Efavir 28308 (US $703) 24000 (US $596)

Tenvir-EM 25200 (US $626) 24000 (US $596)

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