Gilead Sciences has expanded its alliance with fellow-multinational Mylan, by naming Mylan’s Indian subsidiary as its exclusive branded medicine partner for India.
Mylan will market and distribute in India some of Gilead’s medications, a note from Gilead said.
The medications include: HIV therapies Viread{+ }(tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and the newer single tablet regimen Stribild (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg).
The agreement also covers AmBisome{+ }(amphotericin B liposome for injection), a treatment for life-threatening, systemic fungal infections, which is also used to treat the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis.
In addition to this, there is also Viread{+ }for its indication as a treatment for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, the note said.
Gilead had partnered with Mylan since 2006, granting the company rights to manufacture and sell its own generic versions of licensed Gilead HIV therapies in India and up to 111 developing world countries where the HIV epidemic affects millions of individuals. Mylan will continue to maintain these rights, in addition to those in this new agreement.
“The appointment of Mylan as our branded medicine business partner in India is a result of their strong knowledge of the Indian healthcare system and demonstrated capabilities of supporting and distributing antiretroviral therapies,” said Gregg H. Alton, Gilead’s Executive Vice-President of Corporate and Medical Affairs.
“We have established an excellent working relationship with Mylan over the past few years, and believe that this expanded partnership will allow the company to best serve the needs of patients in India.”
Mylan Chief Executive Officer Heather Bresch said, “This further extension of our collaboration with Gilead builds off of our existing successful partnership manufacturing and supplying high-quality, cost-effective generic antiretroviral therapy for those in resource challenged countries, delivering on our mission of providing access to high quality medicine to the world’s seven billion people.”
In addition to distributing branded Gilead medicines, Mylan will manage regulatory and pharmaco-vigilance activities (such as adverse event reporting) as well as broader medical education initiatives.