Aurobindo's prescription for AIDS treatment

By Our Staff Correspondent

MUMBAI, NOV. 6. The Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma, through its division Imunus, is launching two fixed dose combinations for the treatment of Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The company will be launching Stavex-L and Stavex-LN in the Indian market next week.

Stavex-LN is a combination of Stavudine 30 mg, Lamivudine 150 mg and Nevirapine 200 mg while Stavex-L is a combination of Stavudine 30 mg and Lamivudine 150 mg. Stavex-LN has been priced at Rs. 29 per tablet (Rs. 870 per strip of 30 tablets) and Stavex-L at Rs. 14.5 per tablet (Rs. 870 per strip of 60 tablets). The dosage for both tablets is one tablet twice a day.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. S. Hariharan, vice president, marketing, Imunus Aurobindo, said, ``The introduction of fixed dose combinations will definitely simplify the pill burden for AIDS patients. It will also bring down the monthly cost of treatment by around 20 per cent. The monthly treatment with these products would work out to Rs. 1,740 against Rs. 2,000 if each of the formulations - Lamivudine, Nevirapine and Stavudine - are taken as individual tablets."

The treatment, according to Mr. Hariharan, for the first two weeks would be a single tablet of Nevirapine with one tablet of Stavex-L. ``This is to see if the patient develops any reaction. If there is no reaction, the treatment, after these two weeks, would switch to Stavex-LN."

A fortnight ago, the company had launched two brands - Viranz (compound Efavirenz) and Nelvex (compound Nelfinavir) priced at Rs. 40 per capsule and tablet respectively.

Aurobindo's anti-AIDS drug basket includes three NRTIs (nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) including zidovudine, stavudine and lamivudine, two NNRTIs (non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) including nevirapine and efavirenz and two PIs (protease inhibitors) including indinavir and nelfinavir. Mr. Hariharan said the company was working on different combinations of PIs an NNRTIs.

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Section  : Business
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