RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
  Avian Influenza
  Cholera
  Hemorrhagic Fevers
  Poliomyelitis
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Avian Influenza Channel

subscribe to Avian Influenza newsletter
Medical News : Epidemics : Avian Influenza

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Indian drug makers prepared to combat bird flu

Feb 22, 2006 - 3:10:00 PM , Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
Authorities say they have not come across any case of human avian influenza so far.

 
[RxPG] Indian pharmaceutical firms, known globally for their capacity to produce cheap generic or non-patented drugs, says they are well prepared with bird flu medicines after the first confirmed case of the potentially fatal strain was reported over the weekend.

Leading companies like Cipla and Ranbaxy Laboratories say they are fully prepared to manufacture oseltamivir, the generic version of Roche Holding's influenza drug Tamiflu, to check against the spread of the deadly virus.

India's first confirmed case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza was reported Saturday from the Navapur village of the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra state in western India, some 300 km from here, after tests were conducted on thousands of dead chicken.

Authorities say they have not come across any case of human avian influenza so far.

Hyderabad-based Hetero Drugs said it had delivered 500,000 capsules of Tamiflu to the Indian government for distribution in various states for combating bird flu. Another consignment of 200,000 capsules was delivered Wednesday.

Roche Holding, which has the worldwide patent for Tamiflu, entered into a licensing agreement with Hetero Drugs for manufacturing and distributing the medicine in the Indian market in December last year.

"We have another one million capsules in the stock and this can be called in by the government at a very short notice," Hetero Drugs' marketing director M. Srinivas Reddy told IANS on telephone from Hyderabad.

"We are very well prepared for any eventuality. Our production capacity can be ramped up to 30 million capsules per month in case there is a need in the market," he added.

Hetero Drugs is selling a pack of 10 Tamiflu capsules for Rs.710, which is cheaper than the prices in the overseas market.

Reddy welcomed the government's decision to prohibit the sale of the medicine by pharmaceutical companies directly in the retail market. "The product is toxic and makes people drug-resistant very quickly.

"If it is made available in the market, people will tend to misuse and then it will be a disaster."

Cipla, India's leading generic drug maker, Wednesday launched its own version of Tamiflu in the local market that would be made available through hospitals in the flu-affected states.

Initially, Mumbai-headquartered Cipla would produce one million capsules per week, said company chairman Yusuf Hamied, adding the producing capacity could be enhanced in four to five weeks' time in the event of an outbreak.

Cipla, which manufactures and markets a wide range of medicines in India and 150 other countries worldwide, will sell a pack of 10 capsules for Rs.650 in the wholesale market.

"There is a great demand for this product all over the world but our first priority is India. We have received all the permissions to launch it," said Hamied. The company has invested $10 million to manufacture oseltamivir.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, one of India's largest drug makers, said the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for the production of its version of the anti-flu drug was ready.

"In terms of commercialisation, we are working on the timeline to launch the product in the Indian market," said a company spokesperson.

Experts said since Roche Holding had not been granted a product patent on Tamiflu in India yet, local companies could manufacture the medicine without seeking a licence from the Swiss drug maker to contain the bird flu outbreak.

Known to spread to human beings, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has resulted in nearly 100 human casualties across Southeast Asia, mostly in Vietnam.



Publication: Indo-Asian News Service

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Avian Influenza News
Promising Flu Vaccine from Insects
Bird flu claims eighth victim in Egypt
Seoul reports second bird-flu outbreak in two weeks
Are Flu Vaccines Worth the Effort?
Lessons from SARS may help prepare for bird flu
Incomplete vaccination could worsen the spread of avian flu
Scientists aim to thwart use of flu as bioweapon
Pakistani poultry industry demands 10-year tax holiday
Pandemic prevention plan approved for Asia Pacific
H5N1 threat puts human flu back in spotlight

Subscribe to Avian Influenza Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
By Sumeet Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service
 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)