AIDS activists call for generic Tamiflu in Africa
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Activists who put pressure on drugs companies to make AIDS treatments accessible in Africa called on Friday on the maker of antiviral Tamiflu to renounce its rights on the drug in the developing world.
As concerns mount over how countries would deal with a potential flu pandemic stemming from bird flu virus H5N1, the Act Up-Paris lobby group and the African Essential Drug Network (RAME) said that Roche Holding AG should allow generic companies to make the drug for Africans.
“Africa cannot afford to wait until Roche is done ‘talking’: Act-Up Paris and African Essential Drug Network demand that Roche…renounce all its exclusive rights on Tamiflu in developing countries,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The groups called on Roche to grant manufacturers access to their know-how and commit to launching generic versions of Tamiflu in the developing world.
Under pressure from generic drug companies and politicians in developing nations and the United States, Roche agreed this week to discuss granting licences to others to make versions of Tamiflu.
“We will talk to anybody—people who can manufacture the drug, and are able to manufacture it faster than us, and complement our manufacturing,” Roche’s Chief Executive Franz Humer told Reuters earlier this week.
Indian generic drug companies, Asian governments and U.S. Senators have approached Roche over granting sub-licences to farm out production of the drug. However, it is still unclear how sub-licencing will work in practice.
A spokeswoman for Roche confirmed that the company had received many requests about producing the drug, but was unable to give details.
The H5N1 avian flu virus has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries—Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Stocks of Tamiflu and Relenza, another antiviral drug recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and made by GlaxoSmithKline, are very limited, experts say.
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