Cipla Ltd.

Cipla has launched the generic version of Pirfenidone, used to treat Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a progressive lung disease. The launch makes India only the second market to have this drug, besides Japan. The drug that addresses an “unmet medical need,” is yet to get approvals in other markets where it is an experimental drug.

In India, the medicine is priced at Rs 28 for a tablet, significantly less than in Japan, and the dosage for this condition is usually about two tablets taken three times a day. This works out to about Rs 5,000 a month for a person taking the medicine. Branded Pirfenex, the medicine will be made at Cipla's plant in Himachal Pradesh.

The incidence of the illness in India is not known, but is expected to be higher than the prevalence in the US — about 30,000 new cases per year, The disease causes the lung to be replaced by scar tissue – though the cause of the illness is still not clear, varying from environmental illness to smoking, he said. But once it is diagnosed, about 50 per cent die in three years.