Cipla wins R2bn ARV tender

Cipla Medpro was awarded a R2 billion share of government's 2015-2017 national anti-retrovirals (ARVs) tender, the company announced.

Cipla CEO Paul Miller said Cipla was proud to have been recognised as a preferred partner of the state in the national fight against HIV and Aids.

"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," he said in a statement.

Miller said Cipla went further and made the triple combination available in the world's first 3-in-1 combination ARV.

"We intend to continue this proud tradition and build on the foundation laid to continue our quest of providing affordable health care to all."

The contract was effective from the April 1, 2015 and would run for a period of three years.

Cipla was the third largest pharmaceutical company in South Africa.

Miller said this was the third government tender win in the last year for Cipla Medpro.

It won a R280 million state therapeutic drug tender in August and a R345m national respiratory tender in June.

The medication would be produced at its state-of-the-art 23,000 square metre manufacturing facility, Cipla Medpro Manufacturing (CMM), in KwaZulu-Natal.

The CMM employed about 300 staff members, 98 percent of whom were previously disadvantaged, he said.