Bird Flu - Archives
Taiwan
Tamiflu
Update
Indonesia
will start manufacturing Tamiflu in three to five months. Roche, which has
production rights for the drug, and Gilead Sciences, which developed it, do
not hold an Indonesian patent. It is likely that manufacture will be carried
out by two state-owned drugs companies, PT Kimia Farma and PT Indofarma,
using raw materials sourced from China, India and South Korea.
The Taiwan
Intellectual Property Office is likely to authorize
local production of Tamiflu, in violation of the rights of Roche and
Gilead.
Roche chief
executive Franz B. Humer has told the
New
York Times that it will announce in early December which companies
will be allowed to start their own Tamiflu production.
November 28th,
2005
Success! –
Koreans Make Tamiflu; Taiwanese Find New Shikimic Acid Source
Korean news
sources are reporting that a local firm, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, has succeeded
in
producing its own version of Tamiflu. Earlier, 16 Korean drugs companies
had responded to a call from the Korean Food and Drug Administration to
produce generic Tamiflu samples by December 5th. So far, Hanmi is
the only company to have reported success, and it is now in negotiation with
Roche about obtaining a licence to begin full production.
The Bangkok
Post is reporting that Taiwanese scientists have
succeeded in extracting shikimic acid – the base material of Tamiflu –
from three local plants. Until now, the main natural source of the acid has
been the
star anise plant, and this is in increasingly short supply, due to
soaring demand from Tamiflu’s manufacturer Roche.
November 22nd
2005
News Round-Up (Most of
It Bad)
The Thai government has
confirmed its first
bird flu fatality in a year. It is the country’s 13th bird
flu death. The official WHO announcement is
here.
In
Australia, three pigeons – part of a shipment of 102 racing and show
pigeons from Canada – were found to have bird flu antibodies.
Canadian
quarantine authorities had reportedly certified the infected birds as
disease-free.
Taiwan
has reportedly discovered H5N1-infected birds that were being smuggled in
from China.
A lengthy report in the
Washington Post says Indonesia has been engaged in a two-year cover-up
of its growing bird flu problem.
The Economist
has an excellent report on the global fight against the virus.
October 21st,
2005
Generic Tamiflu
The Taiwanese Department
of Health has
written
to Roche requesting negotiations on the generic production of Tamiflu.
Meanwhile, Thailand is apparently
going ahead
with its own production, without consulting Roche.
October 18th,
2005
Tamiflu
Generic Production Urged
Roche
Holdings is reportedly
under pressure to allow production of generic versions of its anti-flu
drug Tamiflu. The reports say the company believes the drug is so complex
that generic maker would struggle to produce significant quantities. This is
contradicted by Taiwanese authorities, who believe they could begin
manufacture within months of receiving permission.
October
12th, 2005
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