Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited announced that the World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva, has approved and included another of the company's anti retrovirals (ARV) drug in its pre-qualification list. The product approved by WHO, Geneva, Abacavir 300 mg tablets, will be manufactured at Ranbaxy's WHO pre-qualified manufacturing site at Paonta Sahib, India.

Abacavir is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and is widely used as part of first line anti retroviral treatment around the world.

Commenting on the inclusion, Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO and managing director, Ranbaxy, said "We are pleased to have one more product on the WHO pre-qualification list. This is yet another significant step in our effort to offer high quality, affordable ARV medicines, for the benefit of the needy HIV patients in the developing and developed parts of the world. We remain committed to supporting the global fight against HIV/AIDS."

With the inclusion of Abacavir 300 tablets, Ranbaxy now has 18 ARVs on the WHO pre-qualification list, including three US FDA approvals, a company press release said.

Since 2001, Ranbaxy has been providing high quality ARV medicines, at affordable prices, to countries and patients afflicted by HIV/AIDS. The Company's ARVs have been used as mainstays in various large treatment programs, both National and NGO/Institutional. As a result, over 500,000 patients in more than 60 countries across Africa, Latin America, CIS and Asia, benefit from Ranbaxy ARV.