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Drug Maker Ups Capacity To Produce Tamiflu

March 16, 2006

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Pharmaceutical manufacturer Roche says it has further expanded its global manufacturing network for the production of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that may be effective in helping humans cope with the effect of the bird flu.

By the end of this year, Roche predicts it will have the capacity to produce up to 400 million treatments annually. That's an increase of more than 30 percent.

Tamiflu is expected to be in exceedingly high demand should the bird flu virus mutate so that humans can transmit it to other humans, creating a pandemic. Currently humans can only get the disease from infected birds, but 50 percent of the people who get the virus die.

Roche said its global network for the manufacture of Tamiflu will include several Roche sites and more than 15 external contractors located in 9 different countries around the world. These production partners have been selected primarily on the basis of their ability to produce substantial quantities of intermediates and finished materials in accordance with Roche's quality standards in a relatively short time frame.

Albemarle, Ampac Fine Chemicals LLC, API Corporation, Clariant, DSM, FIS, Martek Biosciences Corporation, Novasep/Dynamit Nobel, PHT International, PPG Industries, Sanofi-Aventis, Shaanxi Jiahe Phytochem Co and Siegfried Ltd are amongst the companies that will be involved in contributing to the overall production of Tamiflu.

Roche also disclosed it is in final stage of negotiations for a sublicense with a company in China. Roche said it is also evaluating sharing of expertise in order to enable production in Africa. This is in addition to sub-licenses for the complete production of oseltamivir that were granted to Hetero and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals last year.

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