AVIAN INFLUENZA
Scientists produce generic Tamiflu
A generic version of oseltamivir produced by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation from ingredients imported from India.
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Two patent-free methods successful in recreating oseltamivir, the main ingredient in only effective medicine
Thai scientists claim to have successfully reproduced oseltamivir, an active ingredient of the sought-after bird-flu medicine produced only by a Swiss firm. The announcement was made yesterday at the Science Ministry by Thirayuth Vilaiwan, a chemist at Chulalongkorn University, and Chawanee Thongphanchang, of the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec). "This success will help Thailand in [the event] of a bird-flu outbreak if Tamiflu is in short supply," said Dr Mongkol Jiwasantikarn, director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), referring to the drug produced by Swiss firm Roche. Mongkol said the GPO would build a pilot plant to produce the generic version of oseltamivir. Though it can produce the generic version now, it has been importing oseltamivir from India and reformulating it in the form of a capsule. Given the shortage of the raw material, the GPO had said in the past it could only produce about one million capsules. Thirayuth said he hoped the success of the project would secure supplies of the bird-flu drug for Thailand. Thirayuth and Chawanee, whose studies were funded by Biotec, used different methods to produce oseltamivir from shikimic acid, a chemical substance extracted from Chinese star anise. Thirayuth followed the method Roche used to produce its Tamiflu while Chawanee settled for another more expensive method that was safer. Thirayuth said though the so-called Azide method he had adopted was cheaper, the research was dangerous because it required a chemical substance that could explode. Both scientists started their research only six months ago. Thirayuth was able to quickly produce oseltamivir by eliminating some of the complicated steps favoured by Roche, while Chawanee produced the active ingredient with his new method. Dr Sirirerk Songsivilai, deputy director of the National Science and Technology Development Agency, said tests had shown the chemical qualities of the oseltamivir produced by the two researchers were equivalent to the Roche original. As for intellectual property rights and production, Sirirerk said: "Thailand is lucky that Roche did not register for patent protection here in Thailand, so we are able to produce and sell it." Pennapa Hongthong The Nation
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