Ambala AIDS drugs to go to Africa

Ambala-based drug manufacturer McNeil & Argus Pharmaceuticals is all set to target East African countries for marketing anti-retroviral drugs in the form of tablets and capsules.

The company is in the process of setting up a pharma plant at Nairobi in Kenya, in association with Kenpride Pharmaceuticals of that country.

Chairman and Managing Director G D Chibber said the process of registration with Kenyan authorities was on and he "visualises a $4-5 million market in East African countries".

Chibber said the company was one of the six firms manufacturing 15 types of anti-retroviral drugs needed for AIDS patients.

He said the African countries were facing an AIDS pandemic, adding that as per a WHO report, worldwide there were 42 million people infected with HIV virus.

Chibber said recently a high-level delegation led by the High Commissioner of Kenya, H Muthuma Kathurima, had visited the plant.

Expressing satisfaction at the proposed venture, Kathurima said, "I am happy to see rare molecules being produced for the treatment of AIDS. Developing and under-developed countries in Africa will benefit from this."

Chibber said the company had supplied medicines to Fiji and Uruguay through a company called Franco Ratfia and he saw a market worth over $4 million in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

He said there was strong progress on the Vietnam front too.

With the factory sprawling over 5 acres (one acre is 4,840 square yards) of landscaped area, Chibber said the unit was awarded the WHO-GMP certificate in 1998 and it was manufacturing life-saving drugs as per WHO stipulations.

He said the 25-year-old company was a leading supplier of medicines to the Central Government Health Scheme, the Directorate-General of Health Services, and other autonomous government bodies.

Without taking bank loans, Chibber said the firm was manufacturing over 200 drugs which included anti-biotics, steroids, anti-TB drugs, anti-depressants, anti-diabetic medicines, and vitamin supplements.

He was awarded for being the highest individual income tax payee in 1995-96.

He said his sister concern Guruson India exported rice worth $2.3 million to Ukraine last year.