Vietnam continues to study the production of anti-avian influenza drugs

Despite the latest information regarding Tamiflu resistance - the most effective drug currently tested in bird flu prevention - from two deaths in Egypt, Vietnamese scientists pledged to continue their research. Production of anti-avian influenza drugs caused by H5N1 virus.

Officials at the Ministry of Science and Technology said the process of studying the production of anti-avian influenza drugs due to the H5N1 virus was extremely difficult but could not fail.

State-level research on the production of oseltamivir Phosphate, the main raw material for preparing bird flu medicines, was approved by the Ministry of Science & Technology at the beginning of last year at a cost of VND 4 billion.

The group of scientists from 3 units started work in April 2006 and is expected to complete the study in April 2008.

About VND 300 million was spent on assessing the potential of domestic raw materials by the Institute of Ecology & Biological Resources. About VND 800 million is for the evaluation of pharmacological aspects of oseltamivir Phosphate products.

At Hanoi University of Pharmacy, scientists initially evaluated the safety and toxicity of the first batch of products. According to Dr. Vu Thi Tram - Hanoi University of Pharmacy, there are many other things to do here such as bioequivalence testing (assessing the absorption and metabolism of drugs compared to products of the countries circulating on market), assessing quality standards of raw materials, quality standards of preparations.

Vietnam used to export 5-6 tons of essential oil for raw material production
Oseltamivir phosphate and 100 tons of crude recovery per year (Photo: TP)

The main raw material produces Oseltamivir Phosphate as licorice and star anise. According to Dr. Nguyen Quyet Chien, Institute of Chemistry, who has more than 30 years of experience in the production of anise oil, an amount of anise oil produces 70 grams of Oseltamivir Phosphate which can be sold for $ 28, equivalent to VND 450,000.

When the production line of Oseltamivir Phosphate is officially put into operation in Vietnam, it is hoped that the market in Vietnam will enter a new phase.

The initial investigation showed that when Vietnam was a famous brand stored in old books, it was hardly known to the world. Look up the word 'anise' on the internet, people see the phrase anise mentioned in Vietnamese cuisine as an indispensable characteristic.

While a kilogram of oseltamivir Phosphate costs no less than US $ 400 in the world pharmaceutical market, tens of thousands of tons are recovered from the vast forests of Lang Son, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang, etc., still silently and aggressively flowing to China at low prices.

Meanwhile, Switzerland's Roche pharmaceutical company still buys anise flowers in four Chinese provinces and many wonder if it was possible to sell Vietnam under another brand.

Among the five provinces and cities, Lang Son has over 8,000 hectares, each year 5,000 - 6,000 tons of dry salmon harvest. Just 150 tons of star anise is meeting the demand of 25 million tablets of Vietnam Tamiflu if 6 grams of anise flower is made of an anti-bird tablet.

Move step by step

Roche is striving to produce Tamiflu enough to cure 300 million flu cases, each taking 10 capsules, each weighing 73mg, in 2007.

In the US, Tamiflu wholesale price is US $ 61.28 / box of 10 capsules and retail price is 80-90 USD / box.

Roche will charge prices for developed countries of 17USD / box and 14USD / box for poor countries.

The most important stage in the two-year state-level project is the study of production of oseltamivir Phosphate. According to Dr. Nguyen Quyet Chien, head of the project, the technology for producing Oseltamivir Phosphate is completely new to Vietnam conditions, so the research team lacks everything. Three-quarters of the VND 2.9 billion package is spent solely on procurement of machinery and chemicals.

Regarding the production process of Oseltamivir Phosphate, the research team was reassured despite going through 10 steps with very complicated steps. What they worry about most is the process associated with input machinery and chemicals while this material group is extremely expensive.

' Buy from the west, the quality is very good, ' said Dr. Chien, ' But remote transport of expensive materials has a significant risk of going into large-scale production. We are looking for ways to adjust the process by using materials from China, just near and cheap . '

Since April 2006, a team of 20 scientists from the Institute of Chemistry has produced the first 50 gram of Oseltamivir Phosphate and handed it over to the University of Pharmacy to examine pharmacological factors.

Last week, the next 50 grams were also completed and tested immediately.

Scientists are trying to produce an additional 100-200 grams of Oseltamivir Phosphate enough to carry out pharmacological tests.