India's Hetero Drugs To Make Tamiflu For Poor Countries

Zurich - An Indian company, Hetero Drugs, has been granted the right to produce the antiviral Tamiflu for poor countries taking measures against bird flu and a possible influenza pandemic, the Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche said.

Roche said in a statement that the sub-license for Hetero will speed up deliveries of the drug, known generically as oseltamivir, to governments in India and other developing countries in the first half of 2006.

"We are pleased to announce the partnership with Hetero Drugs as the latest step in our scale-up efforts to meet the needs of governments in preparing for the potential public health threat posed by avian influenza," said Roche pandemic chief David Reddy on Friday.

Hetero was the first company to meet technical and quality demands for swift delivery, after working two-and-a-half years to gain approval Roche said. The agreement is also expected to allow more capacity for further orders.

Fifty governments, and the World Health Organisation, are building stockpiles of Tamiflu, a drug that can diminish the severity of influenza in most instances.

In October, the Indian government said it could ask local firms to make a generic version of the anti-bird flu drug as an emergency measure if an outbreak of bird flu were reported.

Patents for oseltamivir are held by a US biotech company, Gilead, while Roche has exclusive commercial rights over the drug. Executives have said Gilead had a patent application pending in India.

India's parliament passed legislation in March prohibiting local companies from copying and selling low-cost generic copies of drugs patented elsewhere after 1995 to bring it into line with World Trade Organisation rules.

Under the WTO process, patent protection must be guaranteed. But India would still be allowed to issue compulsory licenses for generic production of a drug in a public health emergency, while ensuring a payment to the patent holder.

The oseltamivir sub-licensing deal with Hetero allows the inventor and original producer's intellectual property rights to be respected, Roche said.

"The recognition of intellectual property in India through this partnership with Hetero therefore is very significant as it respects the new Indian Patent legislation," Roche said. -- AFP

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