Critics: Who Slow On Generics For Swine Flu
Antivirals such as Tamiflu are believed to be effective against swine flu if administered early.
Tamiflu, made by the Swiss drugmaker Roche, sells for as much as $100 per treatment in countries such as the U.S., but since 2005 the company has offered a discounted price of $16 per treatment to poor nations. Cheap generics also can easily be manufactured by other companies, if the drug producers allow it.
Many rich nations sit on stockpiles of expensive Tamiflu, which was created in 1996 and is patent protected in most countries. However, Roche granted two companies in China and one in India permission to produce generic versions of Tamiflu in 2006. It also announced a transfer of the technology needed to make the drug to a company in South Africa.
Roche could not say how many developing countries have ordered Tamiflu at the cheaper price.
“We remain ready to discuss options with any manufacturers who can make Tamiflu,” David Reddy, who works on Roches global pandemic task force in Basel, Switzerland, said Monday.
Despite this availability, the World Health Organization – which maintains its own stockpiles of Tamiflu for poor nations – has not ordered up new batches of generic Tamiflu, even though WHO raised its pandemic alert level to phase 5, signaling it believes a global flu outbreak to be “imminent.”
Critics say Roche should allow even more companies to produce generic Tamiflu, and that money from donor countries would go further in the Third World, if WHO was buying generic flu medicines itself or advising poorer countries to do so.
Meanwhile, in India, which does not recognize Roches patent, the pharmaceutical giant Cipla has said it will charge about $12 per course of a generic Tamiflu.
Some critics suspect WHO is reluctant to anger drug companies, which supply it with free stockpiles of drugs, by encouraging the use of generics. Given all they spend on research and development to produce new drugs, Western pharmaceuticals have long fought to keep generics out of the market in all circumstances.
“There needs to be a better system in place so that WHO does not have to rely on the goodwill and charity of drug makers to get medicines for poor countries,” said Sangeeta Shashikant of Third World Network, a nonprofit development organization.
WHO insists its doing its best to secure antivirals for poor countries.
“WHO will work on behalf of its member states to secure further antivirals as needed, either through donations or purchase at the lowest possible price, to support developing countries in need,” said Elil Renganathan, a WHO official working on antivirals.
Experts say vaccines would offer the best protection against a swine flu pandemic, but they wont be available for months.
And even when they are, rich countries are first in line: Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, the United States and others have all signed deals with vaccine makers to ensure they get the first batches of pandemic vaccine off the production line.
WHO is appealing to vaccine makers to save some of their vaccines for poor countries, but its doubtful they will get enough to treat a significant portion of the population.
Last week, Cipla said it could produce 1.5 million treatments of a generic version of Tamiflu in the next few weeks. But Yusuf Hamied, the companys chairman, said it is ready to make millions more courses as soon as poor countries and agencies like WHO place orders.
“We could make a lot more, but there needs to be firm commitment from countries and international agencies like WHO,” he said. “The ball is in their court.”