The Hindu Business Line : Pharma cos buck up; busy lining up drugs

ROCHE'S bird-flu drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) has landed at the Centre's doorstep. Cipla will have its version of oseltamivir in the market next week. And Ranbaxy has put on fast-track its efforts to get its version of the drug on the table.

That is the status report from the drug companies, on the day after Maharashtra announced the first incidents of bird-flu in the country.

The Chairman Cipla, Dr Yusuf Hamied, told Business Line that his company's version of oseltamivir would be in the market by Wednesday. Dr Hamied had rocked the boat on Roche's Tamiflu, when it offered to make generic or chemically similar versions of the drug, which is under a patent in developed markets.

Cipla will price its oseltamivir at Rs 1,000 for 10 tablets, he said. It would be less, if the Government wants to procure it, he added. Meanwhile, Cipla is also working on Zanamivir, indicated for bird-flu and expects to be ready with the drug in a couple of months, he said.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is the original patent holder on this drug, sold under the brandname Relenza. GSK is at present getting the product registered in India.

Roche's Managing Director Dr G.L. Telang said that Roche had committed to bring in about 30,000 packs of Tamiflu to India by April and of this 5,000 have already "landed" at the Centre.

There is enough Tamiflu in the country, he said, and added that Roche has given a licence to Hetero to manufacture the drug and Hetero too has supplied its first lot to the Centre.

A Hetero official confirmed that five lakh dosages have been given to the Centre last week. Since the drug is to be taken only on prescription if a person showed the symptoms of bird-flu, he said there was no point in placing the medicine in the retail market, he observed.

Ranbaxy's spokesperson said that they have hastened their efforts to get its version of oseltamivir on the table. The company has the bulk ingredient and in the wake of the emergency, is trying to launch the medicine as early as possible, he said.

The initial plan was to launch the product by the second half of this year. But a revised timeline on when the drug would be available should be clear next week, he said.

Dr Swati Piramal of Nicholas Piramal India Ltd however pointed out that merely stock-piling drugs was not enough. There is also a need to scale-up laboratories and equip them to test for bird-flu, besides keeping stocks of other accessories such as gloves and masks.

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