J&J to license experimental drug for AIDS treatment

NEW DELHI: Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) pharmaceuticals unit Tibotec has inked an agreement with Mylan Inc’s Indian subsidiary in Pennsylvania, Hyderabad-based Hetero Drugs Ltd and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg to license the production of experimental drug TMC278 for AIDS treatment.

“It is important and significant news. This could indeed facilitate these products making it into the developing world at lower prices than could be offered just by the developers of the drugs themselves. If past AIDS drugs are a guide, that could make the pill available for a hundredth of the price that customers pay in the United States”, said, Mitchell Warren, Executive Director, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, New York.

Tibotec has agreed to license the production of cost-effective copies of TMC278 by these three companies in India, sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of Asia if the drug regulators approve and provide necessary approval certificates to these companies. Tibotec has decided to license these drugs to provide easy access to poor HIV patients living in Asian and African countries.