Cipla seeks partner in pharma

MUMBAI - Cipla Ltd, the Indian drugmaker that built a $1 billion business making generic HIV treatments, aims to sell copies of Roche Holding AG's and Amgen Inc's best-selling biotechnology medicines with a partner in China.

Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied plans to invest in companies in India and Hong Kong that make so-called monoclonal antibodies. The technology will enable Mumbai-based Cipla to gain access to products modeled on Roche's Avastin and Herceptin cancer drugs and Amgen's rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel, Hamied said.

The three medications generated $19 billion in sales last year. Cipla, India's third-largest drugmaker by revenue, intends to sell its versions cheaper, making them more affordable. The same strategy of copying medicines developed by others helped the 75-year-old company become one of the largest suppliers of AIDS pills for developing nations.