Reply #3: Indian Co. Eyes Generic Tamiflu for 2006 - Associated Press [View All]

[Coastie for Truth]

A major Indian pharmaceutical company Friday said it plans to bring a generic version of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu into the market early next year, thus filling any potential shortages in the event of a bird flu epidemic.

The drug is already in short supply following fears of a possible epidemic. But the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG, which makes Tamiflu, has refused to license generic versions of the drug despite pressure from several countries and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Dr. Yusuf K. Hamied, chairman of Cipla Ltd., told The Associated Press that his company has already developed the generic version, which would be much cheaper than Tamiflu -- the only available drug that is effective in treatment of people infected with bird flu.

''We have been able to synthesize it. Once the lab work is done things don't take too long,'' Hamied said in a telephone interview from Spain, where he was attending an international symposium on AIDs. ''We are in the process of scaling up and commercialization. That should be completed next month.''

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