Kenya bill to help Indian pharma firms

...allows import, manufacture of cheaper drugs, including anti-AIDS drugs

Anju Ghangurde

Mumbai, June 14: In a move that is expected to cause a domino effect, the Kenyan parliament has passed a bill allowing imports and manufacture of cheaper drugs, including anti-AIDS medicines, opening up a huge window of opportunity for Indian pharmaceutical companies like Cipla and Hetero Drugs.

A Reuters report said that Kenyan lawmakers voted unanimously to approve the Industrial Properties Bill 2001, effectively loosening the hold of major international pharmaceutical firms on patent rights for a variety of medicines, including anti-retroviral AIDS drugs.

The bill, however, has still to go for a third reading in Parliament, at which time minor amendments can be made, and be approved by the president. Kenya is the second African country to pass such a bill.

Cipla joint managing director MK Hamied, said the company has applied for registration of its entire range of anti-retrovirals for the treatment of AIDS in Kenya. “Stavudine, which is off patent, has already been approved and we are selling the drug there.

We already have a local agent,” Mr Hamied told The Financial Express.

Hetero Drugs director (business development) Dharmesh Shah said that the company expects to receive provisional registration for roughly six anti-AIDS drugs including lamivudine, zidovudine, nevirapine and zidovudine in Kenya.

The company already has a distribution partner there and Mr Shah said plans are afoot to seek registration for an additional six drugs.

Cipla had earlier offered to sell a combination of three AIDS drugs at $600 per patient a year to South Africa and other governments (approximately $400 below prices offered by the MNCs that hold the patents to these drugs).

This is besides the $350 per patient per year offer for a cocktail of three drugs made to Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the non-profit health organisation.

Subsequently, Hetero Drugs went on to offer its cocktail of three AIDS drugs at $347 per patient per year to MSF. “However, it will take some time before the cheaper medicines can be imported in bulk. Under the bill, Kenya will give pharmaceutical firms six months’ notice if it wishes to license other companies to import or produce generic drugs for which the companies hold patent rights,” the Reuters report from Kenya adds.