Upfront

Four Indian companies sign up with Clinton Foundation

Our News Bureau - Mumbai

Former US President Bill Clinton recently joined Raymond Chambers, the first UN Special Envoy on Malaria, and Daniel Vasella, Chairman and CEO, Novartis, to announce agreements with six companies for a leading artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT).

The agreement with Calyx Chemicals, Cipla, Ipca Laboratories, Mangalam Drugs, and China's Holley Pharmaceuticals and PIDI Standard lowers by 30 percent the price of ACT for malaria and reduces by 70 percent the price volatility of artmesinin, the key raw material for this and other ACTs.

According to a press note, the scale up ACT access has been challenged by significa-nt volatility in the artemisinin market. Beginning in 2004, a rapid but uneven increase in ACT demand led to the price of artemesinin fluctuating by more than 700 percent. Novartis, the dominant ACT supplier to date, absorbed much of the financial impact, shielding patients from higher prices which would have decreased access. However, acting alone Novartis cannot meet increa-sed future demand across the globe. These agreements will help to mitigate risk so new suppliers can enter the market and make prices for malaria drugs more affordable and sustainable to help meet growing global demand. The prices will be available to the 69 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean that make up the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) purchasing consortium.

Under the agreements negotiated by CHAI, Ipca and Cipla, will offer a co-blister formulation of artesunate+ amodiaquine (AS+AQ) at or below an average ceiling price of 48 cents per treatm-ent, a reduction of more than 30 percent. They also will offer artemether-lumafantrine (AL), the other most common ACT, at or below an average ceiling price of 91 cents, the current price available from Novartis.