A company in the small town of St.Catharine's in Ontario, Canada is likely to get the Canadian governments approval to make the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu from Christmas tree needles and get a licence to send the Tamiflu to countries that are in urgent need of it. The Canadian government has in fact considered putting the anti-flu remedy Tamiflu to the list of those patented drugs that are exempt from copyright laws because they are essentially required medicines and are therefore allowed to be copied by generic manufacturers of drugs.

In Canada the Biolyse Pharma Corporation has been urging the government over the last 2 years to boost the production of Tamiflu so as to be prepared for an influenza pandemic. The company has been advising the Canadian government since the the first bird flu cases appeared in the Far East and has been warning of the Tamiflu shortage.

The difficulty with Tamiflu is that it is made with a extract called shickmic acid that is normally found in very small quantities in a plant called star anise found in China. It is difficult to extract and recently the Biolyse Pharma Corporation found a new way to locate the shikimic acid using Christmas trees needles and have been trying to get governmental approval to bypass the Roche patent in Canada and get producing the Tamiflu in the interests of national health.

Roche despite extensive resources is unable to meet immediate global demand for its influenza drug Tamiflu despite claims that it can meet the 200million target that the world needs. Roche says that Biolyse doesn't need to start making the drug as it will soon be able to get to the required output and has licenced other companies to produce Tamiflu. The Canadian government will decide soon whether to allow Biolyse to make Tamiflu.

At present the company is employing over 100 workers to harvest the pine needles from the trees and has a further 20 people to extract the shickmic acid.