Cipla mulls launching generic AIDS drug in US

Cipla on Thursday said it would "definitely" consider launching generic tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, an HIV/AIDS drug, if Gilead Sciences does not challenge the US Patent & Trademark Office's (PTO) decision to overturn its patent on the drug.

Gilead holds the patent for TDF in most developed markets, including its home country the US. The company sells it under the brand Viread in the US.

The US patent office Wednesday overturned Gilead's patent on the drug, after various petitions argued TDF was not an innovation but a "prodrug" of an earlier known molecule.

"We are studying the impact of the US PTO's decision in other markets where Gilead holds the patent. Then, we will look at which markets to enter," Amar Lulla, managing director, Cipla, said.

"We will definitely try to launch the product in the US market, if Gilead doesn't challenge the decision," he said.

The Mumbai-based drug maker sells generic TDF in India, and some markets in Africa and Latin America, where the drug is off-patent.

There are over 40 million HIV/AIDS patients across the world, including over 1.2 million in the US. Lulla said he "always believed" the patent on Viread was invalid.

Cipla shares remained indifferent to the news.