Gilead licenses hepatitis C drug to Cipla, Ranbaxy, 5 others

Viyash Scientific

15/09/2014 11:06

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Gilead 
Sciences Inc  GILD.O  said on Monday it has licensed its 
hepatitis C drug to seven companies including Cipla Ltd 
 CIPL.NS  and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd  RANB.NS  to make it 
available in 91 developing countries including India. 
    Cadila Healthcare  CADI.NS , Mylan Laboratories Ltd, Sequent 
Scientific Ltd  SEQU.BO , Strides Arcolab Ltd  STAR.NS  and 
Hetero Drugs Ltd are the others who will now be able to make and 
sell the Sovaldi generic, the company said in a statement. 
    The companies will be allowed to set their own prices for 
the generic drug, and will pay a royalty on their earned sales 
to Gilead, it said. 
    Gilead's Sovaldi, chemically sofosbuvir, is hailed as a  
breakthrough in treating hepatitis C, but the company has come 
under fire over its product's $1,000-per-pill price tag in the 
United States. 
 
 (Reporting by Aditya Kalra in NEW DELHI and Zeba Siddiqui in 
Mumbai; Editing by Sunil Nair) 
 ((zeba.siddiqui@thomsonreuters.com;)(+91 22 6180 7503)(; 
Reuters Messaging: 
zeba.siddiqui.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GILEAD SCIENCES INDIA/