Christian–owned pharmaceutical company to manufacture cheap AIDS drugs

Chennai – A not–for–profit, Christian–owned pharmaceutical factory in India has started to produce low–cost AIDS treatment drugs for the large and growing number of HIV positive people living in the world’s second most populous country.

According to conservative estimates, in India there are over 5 million people affected by HIV/AIDS. Globally, India is second only to South Africa in terms of the overall number of people living with the dreaded disease.

The Comprehensive Medical Services India, the pharmaceutical unit of the Inter–Church Service Association (ICSA), has released the first batch of the anti–retro–viral (ARV) drugs on 28 October in Chennai.

"The number of people affected by HIV and AIDS is shooting up [in India]," Dr Moses Manohar, director, ICSA. "Most of them are poor people and cannot afford to buy the expensive ARV drugs available in the market. That is why we decided to enter this field."

Addressing the ARV launch, Dr. Jane Masiga of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network, has hailed the “important and significant initiative” of the ICSA for producing the drug at low–cost and making them cheaply and easily available to poor patients.

Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network is an independent, Kenya–based Christian organization that seeks to increase positive health outcomes, especially for the poor, through church–related pharmaceutical services.

Dr. Masiga, who also works for the Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies, Nairobi, Kenya, released the Zidovudine capsules. Dr. Bimal Charles, an epidemiologist from the Centre for Disease Control in India, received the first consignment.

ICSA is aiming to sell the drugs at prices that are at least 30–40 percent less than those manufactured and sold by other pharmaceutical companies. For instance, a strip of 10 Nevirapine antiretroviral tablets is sold generally for Rs. 135–158 by Indian pharmaceutical companies whereas ICSA is selling the same ARV drug for Rs. 59. Similarly, the Zidovudine tablet which is normally sold in the market at a price between Rs. 153 and 180, will be available from ICSA at Rs. 109.

According to Manohar, the aim of ICSA is to “ensure that the [HIV positive] poor have a better chance of living when the drugs are available at a cheaper rate,” adding that the free distribution of ARV drugs to poor patients had not been undertaken in the past by missionary hospitals as the price was very prohibitive.

But, with the launch of the cheaper ARV drugs, he said, missionaries and other charitable hospitals that make bulk purchases from ICSA could start distribution of the drugs to the needy.

ICSA also plans to make available other components of an anti–retroviral tri–drug therapy in different combinations and various strengths.

ICSA's fully automated drug factory, which meets the World Health Organization (WHO) norms and standards, produces essential drugs worth around Rs. 2 crore a year for more common diseases like leprosy, malaria and tuberculosis. It markets these at almost half the market price by direct selling to hospitals avoiding marketing agents who take expensive commissions.