The Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche will not discriminate against Taiwan in considering its request for licensing to mass-produce Tamiflu, an anti-viral drug for the treatment of influenza, a company official said yesterday.
According to Tsai Chao-cheng (蔡朝正), spokesman for Roche's Taiwan branch, when considering similar requests put forth by various countries, the size of these countries and whether they are a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) are not Roche's concern.
The company will negotiate details related to royalties with these countries individually based on their conditions and the situation of avian influenza outbreaks in their countries, Tsai said.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
The Department of Health (DOH) has asked to negotiate with Roche for licensing to mass-produce Tamiflu in Taiwan to increase the country's stockpiles of the drug, as a precautionary measure against a possible bird flu pandemic.
A Roche spokesman in Switzerland said earlier this week that any country cooperating with Roche in producing Tamiflu must follow proper quality standards and safety guidelines.
The DOH has coordinated with the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs to prepare for matters involving the negotiations.
Health Minister Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) had said his department was planning to spend NT$20 billion (US$600 million) in combating bird flu. The ministry hopes that the effort will include producing mass quantities of drugs to fight the flu, based on the recipe for Tamiflu.
Although Roche has not yet made a final decision with regard to authorizing other countries to manufacture Tamiflu, National Health Research Institute Director Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), said that Roche's preliminary attitude is good, and he hopes to see a positive response.
According to Su, the National Health Research Institute is capable of making samples that are 99.9 percent similar to Tamiflu. It would take only three to five months for the institute to manufacture doses sufficient for 1 million people.
Currently, the nation has enough of the drug for 160,000 people, and expects to see the number rise to 780,000, which represents 4 percent of the population. The recommended stockpile set by the WHO is 10 percent.
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