Roche and Gilead reach Tamiflu agreement

The main maker of the controversial drug Tamiflu has settled a dispute with its licensee and inventor, as states rush to stockpile the medicine.

Roche has agreed to give Gilead $62.5 million (?36 million) which Gilead said was for “goods adjustments retroactive to 2004”. The firm will also pay royalties for the drug at between 14 and 22 per cent of sales.

Gilead had earlier challenged a licensing agreement with Roche that it made in 1996, claiming that the company had failed to market the drug effectively. It has now backed down, citing the threat of pandemic flu as motivating the deal.

“The global threat of a potential avian flu pandemic has challenged governments, public health officials and the pharmaceutical industry to join together in partnership for the purpose of establishing a comprehensive plan to combat this deadly disease,” said John C Martin, president and chief executive of Gilead sciences.

He added: “Beyond this threat, seasonal influenza outbreaks result in hundreds of thousands of deaths each year around the world. We have ended our dispute with Roche in an effort to work together, with the utmost diligence, to address this global public health need.”

Gilead said that it kept the right to co-promote Tamiflu with Roche, but will not do so in 2006.

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