Cipla Limited is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, headquartered

in Mumbai, India. Cipla primarily develops medicines to treat respiratory, cardiovascular disease,
arthritis, diabetes, weight control and depression; other medical conditions.[3]

As of 17 September 2014, its market capitalisation was ₹517 billion (US$7.9 billion)(US$7.7 billion),
making it India's 42nd largest publicly traded company by market value.[4][5][

It was founded by Khwaja Abdul Hamied as 'The Chemical, Industrial & Pharmaceutical Laboratories'
in 1935 in Mumbai.[7][8] The name of the Company was changed to 'Cipla Limited' on 20 July
1984.[8] In the year 1985, US FDA approved the company's bulk drug manufacturing facilities.[9] Led
by the founder’s son Yusuf Hamied, a Cambridge-educated chemist, the company provided generic
AIDS and other drugs to treat poor people in the developing world.[10] In 1994, Cipla launched
Deferiprone, the world’s first oral iron chelator.[7] In 2001, Cipla offered medicines (antiretrovirals)
for HIV treatment at a fractional cost (less than $350 per year per patient).[11]

In 2013 Cipla acquired the South African company Cipla-Medpro, kept it as a subsidiary, and changed
its name to Cipla Medpro South Africa Limited.[12][13] At the time of the acquisition Cipla-Medpro
had been a distribution partner for Cipla and was South Africa's third biggest pharmaceutical
company.[12] The company had been founded in 2002 and was known as Enaleni Pharmaceuticals
Ltd.[14] In 2005, Enaleni bought all the shares of Cipla-Medpro, which had been a joint venture
between Cipla and Medpro Pharmaceuticals, a South African generics company,[15] and in 2008 it
changed its name to Cipla-Medpro.[16] I

Cipla sells active pharmaceutical ingredients to other manufacturers as well as pharmaceutical and
personal care products,[17] including Escitalopram (anti-depressant), Lamivudine and Fluticasone
propionate.[2] They are the world's largest manufacturer of antiretroviral drugs[17][18]