Cipla gets Rs 1,100 cr South African order for HIV drugs

Cipla Medpro, the South African subsidiary of Cipla, has been awarded Rs 1,100 crore (R 2 billion) worth order of the South African Government's 2015-17 National ARV tender. The contract is effective from the 1st of April 2015 and will run for a period of three years, company said.

Paul Miller CEO of Cipla Medpro, said, "Cipla is known as a pioneer of fixed dose combinations following Cipla's Dr Yusuf Hamied's accomplishment of making Aids medication available for a dollar a day in 2001. Cipla also went further and made this triple combination available in the world's first 3-in-1 combination ARV."

This latest Government tender win is the third in the last year for Cipla, and follows Cipla Medpro winning state therapeutic drug tender in August 2014, and national respiratory tender in June 2014.

The medication will be produced at its state-of-the-art, Cipla Medpro Manufacturing (CMM), which is based in Kwazulu-Natal.

"We look forward to continuing this partnership with government - united in the fight against Aids," said Subhanu Saxena, MD & Global CEO of Cipla Limited.

At 3.25 PM, Cipla stock was up 1.58% at Rs 628.5. The stock has hit a high of Rs 634.30 on BSE.

Last year, Cipla had completed the buyout process of South African pharma firm Cipla Medpro for an aggregate consideration of Rs 2,707 crore.