Cipla supplies it cheap anti-AIDS drug to more than 35 countries, mainly in Africa. In March it was named by the World Health Organisation as one of the preferred international suppliers of Anti-AIDS drugs.

India's patent laws allow drugmakers like Cipla and Ranbaxy to manufacture drugs under patent internationally as long as they use a process that differs from the original.

Cipla is allowed by Indian patent law to make drugs that are patented by other companies internationally as the law protects only the processes by which drugs are made, and not the drugs themselves.

Under current Indian law, which recognizes patents on ways to make drugs but not the drugs themselves.

This means Indian companies can make drugs under patent in the West, provided they use a process that is different from the original.

Manufacturers are able to produce and sell medicines here at a tiny fraction of the prices charged in the United States. In some cases, though, the generic makers have been blocked from selling their wares in other developing countries that have Western-style patent laws.

Cipla Ltd is a generic drug maker in Bombay India, which broke the patent monopolies held by the larger North American based companies to provide critically needed AIDS drugs to charities like Medicins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) and patients who cannot afford the expensive brand-name versions.

Generic AIDS drugs produced outside of the United States have been under criticism for years by the US government and large pharmaceutical companies who hold that generic drug makers such as Cipla Ltd violate intellectual patent laws. In February 2001, the US filed suit against a Brazilian pharmaceutical, which manufactured generic AIDS drugs.

The criticism of generics continues with the release of the WHO safe drug list, however, inclusion on the WHO list provides validation for the work of Cipla Ltd.

Inhouse Pharmacy (UK) is able to supply two generic medications manufactured by Cipla.

Fincar (Finasteride 5mg)

Finpecia (Finasteride 1mg)