Indian Company Says It Can Bring Generic Version of Bird Flu Drug Into Market Early 2006

I think this is great news BUT will the big wigs allow it happen? With a pandemic brewing and shortages of vaccines, generic Tamiflu would be a great option for poorer countries and allow more people to be treated.

Currently the company that holds the license is blocking this vision from becoming a reality. I wonder if there is anyway, the Swiss govt or govt's from other countries can force them to allow the generic version of Tamiflu to be made?

Indian Company Says It Can Bring Generic Version of Bird Flu Drug Into Market Early 2006

BOMBAY, India (AP) - A major Indian pharmaceutical company said Friday it plans to bring a generic version of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu into the market early next year, filling any potential shortages in 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., said that his company has already developed the generic version, oseltamivir, 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. "We are in the process of scaling up and commercialization. That should be completed next month."

Maybe there is a way that regular people like you and me can pressure or boycott Roche to reconsider?? any thoughts?

With the way technology has exploded over the last 10 years and the brilliant minds in Indian culture, I dont think I would take a vaccine for this bird flu. No telling, it could have nano-technology in it to be used for a sinister purpose and you really never would know. That is if you believe in the New World Order hypotheses. India is very much a player as well.

I keep thinking back to all the virologists, microbiologists, and epidemiologists that have died in strange ways since 2000.

Tamiflu isn't a vaccine or a preventive measure. It's a pill used to treat the severe symptoms of the flu. I think a generic version will help save many lives and ease suffering of anyone who might contract the virus.

There is still the issue that certain strains of h5n1 might be resistant to Tamiflu, but that's a whole nother issue.

The problem I see here is that Roche seems to be in it for the money and not for helping people

They wouldn't have to force them to allow it, they'd simply make it.


But lets keep some things in mind here. Tamiflu is not a vaccine, and not a cure. Companies like Roche invested a heck of a like of money to make stuff like this, if their patents aren't protected, then they're not going to make a profit by researching these things, and then these things will not exist. It wouldn't make any sense for any company to, say, invent a vaccine for a human transmissible bird flu, for example, because there'd be no profit in it, it'd simply be taken by the governments of the world and mass produced.

WW
The problem I see here is that Roche seems to be in it for the money

They're a business. These vaccines and releif medecines only exist because of the profit motive. We could raise taxes by a large margin and make nationalized pharmacological research facilities, so that we have 'free' drugs on the same scale, but no one wants to pay for that. So only hte profit motive is going to yeild these things.

[edit on 14-10-2005 by Nygdan]

The problem I see here is that Roche seems to be in it for the money and not for helping people


This is why medicine is going in the wrong direction, especially in Western/Euro Culture.
Sickness=Profit
Wellness=Deficit -Possible national/ World Economy Collapse

I see it as an Ethics Issue

[edit on 14-10-2005 by magnito_student]

understood Nygdan, but couldn't Roche "sell the copyright" for profit? Still make money but allow the medication to be more readily available and cheaper for the world's population.

I realize Medicine is big business, but ethically speaking, why bother making medicine, if you're not willing to help heal the world?

Originally posted by worldwatcher
understood Nygdan, but couldn't Roche "sell the copyright" for profit? Still make money but allow the medication to be more readily available and cheaper for the world's population.

I realize Medicine is big business, but ethically speaking, why bother making medicine, if you're not willing to help heal the world?

Even better, why make medication available at all? There may not be anyone left to buy the stuff!

btw, here's the bit on a Tamiflu Resistant strain of the virus

Vietnamese Girl's Bird Flu Infection Resistant to Tamiflu

NEW YORK (AP) - The bird flu virus that infected a Vietnamese girl was resistant to the main drug that's being stockpiled in case of a pandemic, a sign that it's important to keep a second drug on hand as well, a researcher said Friday.

He said the finding was no reason to panic.

The drug in question, Tamiflu, still attacks "the vast majority of the viruses out there," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Tokyo and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The drug, produced by Swiss-based Roche Holding AG, is in short supply as nations around the world try to stock up on it in case of a global flu pandemic.

Kawaoka said the case of resistance in the 14-year-old girl is "only one case, and whether that condition was something unique we don't know."

Another drug used to treat flu symptoms is Relenza made by GlaxoSmith, but this one has a generic form called Zanamivir which is available.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
understood Nygdan, but couldn't Roche "sell the copyright" for profit?

I had thougth that they could, but that the other companies don't want to have to pay the licensing fee, but apparently that is not the case, roche doesn't own the patent, they infact are the ones who've been given I guess something like an exclusive license from teh actual inventors, who are also apparently thinking of revoking it, since Roche are being greedy bastards and wont even sell licenses, per here