Roche
willing to talk to Indian Generic Drug maker on flu drug
18 October, 2005
Drug maker Roche Holding AG would be willing to
discuss giving a production license for its antiviral Tamiflu
drug to Indian generic drug maker Cipla, a senior Roche executive
told Reuters on Tuesday. Roche's head of pandemic sales for Tamiflu,
David Reddy, said in an interview that the Swiss firm had not yet
been approached by Cipla, which according to them could make a copy-cat
version of the Roche flu treatment to help governments build stockpiles.
"We would welcome if a company believes that
it has the competencies then we would like an open discussion with
them and therefore we are open to being approached," Reddy
said. Reddy also said Roche had been approached by one government
in Asia that was also keen to make its own generic version of Tamiflu,
one of the drugs which the World Health Organization recommends
stockpiling in preparation for a possible bird flu pandemic.
Roche has been approached by various governments
in Asia regarding the production license of its antiviral Tamiflu
drug to counter fight an onset of fight bird
flu in the near future.
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