The anti flu treatment medicine acclaimed the world over Tamiflu now will be made in India. The licence has been given by Swiss firm Roche to make a generic version of its anti-flu treatment Tamiflu for India and other developing countries. The company is Hetero Drugs.
The drug is widely seen as the most promising treatment for combating any future pandemic of bird flu in humans. The Swiss drugs giant developed, and has patent protection for, a product that is in great demand from governments around the world.The best part is that it appears to be only the second such manufacturing license Roche has awarded.
The first one went to a Chinese firm, the Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Group.
Roche meanwhile has claimed that most other drugs firms do not have the skills to make Tamiflu, a year-long process involving fermentation of E-coli bacteria.
The company says Hetero Drugs is among the first to demonstrate that it is technically capable of making a reliable generic version of Tamiflu.
