New Delhi : Drug major Cipla has inked a pact with Russia's National Immunobiological Company to collaborate on HIV and Hepatitis C drugs, entailing an investment of 2.8 billion roubles (around Rs 289 crore).

The companies have inked a Memorandum of Understanding on innovative antiviral medical products for HIV and Hepatitis C treatment and on technology transfer and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing, Cipla Ltd said in a statement.

"Patients undergoing anti-HIV treatment have to take a lot of drugs every day. Our preparations will meet the expectations of Russian patients and will solve this problem," Nacimbio CEO Nikolay Semenov said.

In 2017, the company will finalise construction and validation of the manufacturing plant together with Cipla and products will be commercially available in 2018, he added.

Total investment in the project will be over 2.8 billion roubles, Semenov said.

"Currently there is no technology for full-cycle manufacturing of HIV treatment drugs in Russia," said Subhanu Saxena, MD & Global CEO, Cipla Ltd.

"We are glad that, as a responsible partner together with Nacimbio we will be able to improve drug availability for patients and make our contribution to the fight against HIV," he added.

National Immunobiological Company (NIC) is a holding company that focuses on the development, production, and delivery of immunobiological medicine to customers to help protect the population of the Russian Federation against various infectious pathogens. MSS MR