Roche under pressure to licence Tamiflu

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has been contacted by manufacturers throughout Asia vying to get licenses to produce the company’s antiviral drug Tamiflu, believed to be the best treatment should a possible pandemic of avian flu in humans occur.

Yesterday the Taiwanese health minister took a further step and said that the country would consider using a national-emergency clause in World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations to begin making the anti-viral drug, even if the Roche doesn’t approve manufacturing licenses.

Health authorities from countries throughout the world are desperately trying to build up stockpiles of Tamiflu in case the H5N1 strain of bird flu mutates into a form that can pass easily to and between humans before a vaccine has been developed.

Tamiflu is not a vaccine against avian flu, but increases patients’ chances to survive infection.

Koh Choon Hui, managing director of Roche Singapore, told AFP the company has been approached by “around 100 companies including some governments” in Asia for the production of Tamiflu.

However, he added the caveat: “The drug will be used to contain bird flu in the event of an outbreak, not for commercial purposes.”

Roche has already announced that it intends to increase its production of Tamiflu by up to ten times by mid-2006.

The up turn in production has also increased the demand for Chinese star anise. The spice is the source of shikimic acid from which the drug oseltamivir is made, a key ingredient of Tamiflu.

Only star anise grown in the four provinces of China is suitable for manufacture into the drug and 90 per cent of the harvest has already been used by Roche.

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