The US-based Mylan Inc. has announced today that its Indian subsidiary Mylan Pharmaceuticals Private Limited has agreed to be the exclusive distributor of Gilead Sciences’ medications for chronic hepatitis C in India. Mylan says it will begin dispensing the medication in the second quarter of 2015.

The medications are called Sovaldi and Harvoni.

Sovaldi is a sofosbuvir based drug which has shown to produce high cure rates when taken in combination with other agents over the course of a 12 week program. The medication was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in December 2013 and by the European Commission in 2014. India, who approved the drug in January 2015, is the first Asian country to do so.

Harvoni is based on ledipasvir. It functions as part of a treatment regimen for chronic hepatitis C. The US FDA approved it in October 2014.

“Hepatitis C is a growing public health concern, particularly in developing countries such as India where access to high quality, effective and affordable treatment remains a challenge,” said Mylan President Rajiv Malik in a press release. “Mylan is proud to partner with Gilead to expand access to Sovaldi and Harvoni, life-saving medications that offer an improvement in the standard of care for the 12 million hepatitis C patients in India.”

Hepatitis C is a liver disease that is most often spread through the use of unclean needles. Those infected with the disease suffer acute fever, fatigue, nausea, stomach pain, joint pain, and jaundice. Many who are diagnosed with hepatitis C will eventually develop liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Some 150 million people are infected worldwide, including 4 million people in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.

In addition to the rights to manufacture and distribute these medications, Mylan and Gilead have also agreed to partner together to develop affordable antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/ AIDS for India as well as for other developing countries.