Hetero can produce 80 million oseltamivir (Fluvir) pills in a month

Hetero is licensed to make and export oseltmivir (brand-name Fluvir) to 100 developing countries.

Hetero Drugs can produce 80 million doses of anti flu drug oseltamivir -the low-cost version of Roche’s Tamiflu – in a month, the company said.

Hyderabad, India-based Hetero is the only supplier in India licensed by Swiss-based Roche, is marketing the oseltamivir under the brand name Fluvir.

Hetero said it has reached a monthly production capacity of about 80 million doses of oseltamivir within weeks. Hetero can still boost the production of the antiviral drug oseltamivir, if needed, the company claimed.

“We supplied more than about 50 million capsules of this particular drug here in 2006. At that time we supplied about close to one million capsules to our Government of India. Also we are committed to our government that whenever there is any kind of such situation, we are in a position to supply,” said B P. Srinivas Reddy, chairman and managing director (MD), Hetero Drugs Limited.

Hetero has been approached by the Indian health ministry officials  for oseltamivir as India government wanted to create drug and may create a reserve of about 10 million doses of oseltamivir as stockpile in case of an emergency situation arising out of any   swine flu outbreak in the country.

“Again last week, our Government of India contacted us. We have given assurance that we are going to supply. Again, there was an enquiry that they may stockpile about ten million doses. We said we are ready to supply and cooperate,” said Reddy.

Hetero was issued a sub-licence to produce oseltamivir by Roche following a patent dispute over the generic version of the drug manufactured by Cipla.

Cipla Ltd had earlier opposed granting of patents rights to Gilead’s (Gilead and Roche jointly market Tamiflu) did not have inventive step – a pre-requisite for products to gain patents in India.

Cipla had received marketing approval from the drug controller-general of India in January 2006.

Once Cipla launched oseltamivir, Hetero was issued a licence by Gilead to manufacture and export oseltamivir to about 100 developing countries.

Hetero supplied 200 million doses of the drug in the last three years within India and rest of the world. Hetero is receiving inquiries about the supplies  from countries like Latin America, South-East Asia and Middle East, according to Mr Reddy.

Oseltamivir is one of the two currently available options to treat H1N1 virus, which is causing swine flu. The other drug that can combat H1N1 is GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza. There is no vaccine against swine flu.

The World Health Organistaion (WHO) has raised its alertness level to 5 — that is next to the pandemic situation as the swine flu started spreading to newer geographies.

Swine flu, which originated in Mexico has already taken the toll of about 150 people in Mexico alone. As per the latest reports, swine flu has spread to as far as New Zealand, making the total number of affected regions to 18.

Various nations across the world have started stockpiling oseltamivir and zanamivir (Relenza) to deal with any swine flu outbreak. The government of India, besides planning to reserve  as much as 10 million doses of oseltamivir, has stepped up surveillance across international airports and ports to check for any swine flu symptoms.