Indian to allow local cos to make generic anti-bird flu drug
Syndicated Correspondence
Oct. 26, 2005

Indian drug firms can immediately make a generic anti-viral Tamiflu bird flu medicine without approval by Swiss-based Roche Holding AG because it has not applied for a patent in the country, The Times of India reported, citing health ministry secretary P Hota.

"As of today, Roche has not applied for a product patent on Tamiflu in India. So legally, we don''t need their permission," Hota said.

"There is no bar against our companies producing the drug. We will allow the companies to go ahead."

In March, India's parliament passed a patent bill that prohibits domestic firms from making low-cost generic versions of most patented drugs as part of an effort to extend intellectual property rights under World Trade Organization agreements.

The law replaced legislation allowing the copy of patented products using a different manufacturing process.

But public health officials worldwide are under growing pressure to allow other companies to make the drug, which is in short supply, in the face of warnings by the World Health Organization of a possible pandemic of the fatal H5N1 bird-flu virus.

The Times of India said Indian drug companies Cipla and Ranbaxy have written to Roche seeking permission to make the drug under a license agreement, but have not heard back from the company.

Last week, Cipla, which was the first to make cheap generic AIDS drugs, said it would try the same move with a cut-rate version of Tamiflu.

The firm said it is set to make 750 kilograms of a generic version of the drug per month and sell it globally despite a patent held by Roche.

"We are doing generic drugs for treating bird flu," Amar Lula, joint managing director of Cipla, told Agence France-Presse last week. "We have no deal with Roche on the product, but could explore a tie-up."

India is the fourth-largest producer of medicines, mainly generic, and is a key supplier for poor countries, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.

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