BMJ  2006;332:5 (7 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7532.5-a

News

Indian firm to produce oseltamivir for developing countries

New Delhi

Roche has granted India's Hetero Drugs a sublicense for the production of the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to accelerate the international stockpiling of the drug as part of influenza pandemic preparedness.

It said that the agreement would enhance supply of oseltamivir to developing countries "earlier than anticipated" and create capacity for future orders. Hetero, which is based in Hyderabad, will be able to sell oseltamivir in India and export it to almost 100 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Hetero officials said that the company had shown the technical ability and capacity to deliver the product in the first half of 2006. "We will have 40 million capsules of oseltamivir ready for delivery by March 2006," Male Srinivas Reddy, the marketing director at Hetero told the BMJ.

Another Indian drug company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, announced in early December that it was "well prepared" to produce 300 million capsules of oseltamivir within six months and 1.3 billion within a year. Ranbaxy officials had said that the company was exploring a partnership with Roche.

Oseltamivir is being produced in China by Shanghai Pharmaceutical under an agreement with Roche Credit: EUGENE HOSHIKO/AP/EMPICS

 

More than 50 countries have placed orders for oseltamivir from Roche. Oseltamivir is one of two antiviral drugs, both neuraminidase inhibitors, considered most likely to be effective against ordinary influenza and bird flu. The other drug is zanamivir, an inhaled drug from GlaxoSmithKline.

The raw material used to produce oseltamivir is shikimic acid, a compound extracted from the pods of the star anise plant, which is grown mainly in China. Industry analysts have said that although the demand for oseltamivir has grown steeply in recent months, the supply of shikimic acid has been limited.

"We expect the sublicensing agreement to make more medicine available at lower cost," said Jai Narain, director of communicable diseases at the South East Asia regional office of the World Health Organization in New Delhi.

"Stockpiling of the antiviral drug is a key component of comprehensive influenza pandemic preparedness," Dr Narain added.

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Bertelli, A. A E (2006). Stockpiling of raw material for oseltamivir is not justified. BMJ 332: 178-178 [Full text]  

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Indian firm to produce oseltamivir for developing countries

Alberto AE Bertelli, MD PhD
bmj.com, 6 Jan 2006 [Full text]