15.10.2005

A major Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla said 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 an avian influenza 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 major available drug that is effective in treatment of people infected with avian influenza.
"We have been able to synthesize it. Once the lab work is done things don't take too long," Hamied said.
"We are in the process of scaling up and commercialization. That should be completed next month."
Hamied did not disclose how his company would price the generic brand, but said the company will make it available at "a humanitarian price."
"I have always said there should be access to medicine at affordable prices," he said.
Five years ago Yusuf K Hamied, head of Indian drugs company Cipla, stunned a European Commission medical meeting in Brussels by offering to sell anti-AIDS drugs at a fraction of the going rate.
A strip of 10 Tamiflu tablets cost about $60, a lot of money for people in Asia where millions earn less than a dollar a day. Patients are advised to take a tablet daily for at least a week and the dosage could extend up to six weeks for people living in epidemic infested areas.