Nov 9, 2005 6:33 am US/Pacific
Roche: Enough Tamiflu for 55M
(AP)
Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said Wednesday it is producing enough of its antiviral Tamiflu to treat 55 million people this year, but it plans to produce six times as much in 2007.
"In 2007, Roche will be in a position to make 300 million treatments" of the drug that experts believe is the best defense in the initial phases of a global influenza pandemic, said Jan van Koeveringe, technical head of Roche Pharmaceutical.
Production will be nearly tripled next year — to 150 million treatments — and that will be doubled again in 2007, said David Reddy, the company's influenza pandemic task force leader.
The company's production of the drug has already been growing exponentially, from 5.5 million treatments in 1999 to 18 million in 2003 and 27 million last year, Reddy said.
Roche, which has an exclusive patent to make Tamiflu until 2016, is under growing international pressure to ease its control on the manufacture of the drug as governments and companies stockpile it because of fears about bird flu.
The company said it expects Tamiflu sales to range between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion this year.
Roche officials declined to say how much they were investing in production, but did say they were being driven in part by governments stockpiling the drug.
"We are on a journey to 300 million," said William M. Burns, chief executive of the pharmaceutical division. "We are doing that at our own risk, but our expectation is that governments will continue to enhance the response they can give. We are trying to keep ahead of the curve."
So far the company has no firm orders for 2007, Burns said.
"How prepared the governments want to be is the $64,000 question," he said.
About 150 companies have offered to join in the production of Tamiflu and Roche hopes to have a short list by the end of November of serious companies that are capable of producing the drug, Burns said.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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