Taiwan plans to take steps to force the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche to let the country produce the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu, the health minister said yesterday.
The move is part of a "two-track" approach for obtaining a Tamiflu license so Taiwan can combat a possible bird-flu outbreak, Department of Health Minister Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) said.
Hou said his ministry has asked the bureau in charge of intellectual property rights to request a "coercive authorization" for the drug's production, citing a national emergency clause.
"The Department of Health, while seeking approval from Roche, has asked the Economic Ministry's Intellectual Property Office [IPO] for compulsory licensing to produce Tamiflu," Hou told the Legislative Yuan.
"The license could be granted by the end of November at the earliest," he said.
"The production will boost our stockpile of Tamiflu to enough for 3 million people," Hou said.
The bureau is expected to contact Roche to learn its position on the issue before making a judgment in about a month, he said.
WTO regulations allow for drug patents to be violated in the event of medical emergencies, providing that the patent holder is compensated at a later date.
Taiwan submitted an application to Roche on Oct. 17 for a sublicense to produce its version of Tamiflu. Roche said later that it was willing to discuss details with Taipei.
The two sides are scheduled to hold their first talks on Nov. 8.
Roche has said it is willing to negotiate on Tamiflu manufacture with countries or companies able to produce large amounts of the drug if they meet appropriate quality specifications, safety and regulatory guidelines.
The government recently said it has succeeded in developing a generic version, which it said is 99 percent akin to Tamiflu, and has bought 3 tonnes of shikimic acid, which is the raw material for making Tamilfu and is enough to make the drug for 2.3 million people -- about 10 percent of the country's population.
Premier Frank Hsieh (
The next step in Taiwan's efforts to produce its own version of the drug, which doesn't cure bird flu but can ease and shorten its symptoms, is in the IPO's hands. Upon receiving the application for compulsory licensing, the office will send a duplicate copy of the the application to Roche to request a response.
If no response is given, the office will grant the compulsory license.
An IPO official told reporters that the standard time for the patent holder to respond is three months.
"But in a case of emergency, it could be a few days or even one day," the official said.
As for the amount of compensation, "it is up to the applicant and the patent holder to discuss," the official in the IPO's legal affairs department said. "If they have failed to reach an agreement, IPO will make a ruling."
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to