Roche discussed franchising for Tamiflu for China

On November 2, Switzerland's Roche Pharmaceutical Group announced a deal with Shanghai Pharmaceutical Corp. to produce Tamiflu against bird flu.

According to a Roche spokesman in Shanghai, negotiations are taking place between Roche and Shanghai's pharmaceutical group on the right to produce Tamiflu. At the same time, the president of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Corporation affirmed to the press that everything prepared to welcome Roche's delegation to inspect the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Corporation's production facilities was completed. Negotiation results will be announced from 2 - 3 weeks.

Earlier, Roche said it could not supply Tamiflu to China in the short term but said it was ready to share the technology with China to produce antiviral drugs.

Elsewhere, according to the World Health Organization, China has recorded seven outbreaks of bird flu since the beginning of the year. The Chinese government has announced until now that no human bird flu has been detected in the country.

L.XAN ( According to SDA-ATS )