Chinese Tamiflu

Authorities in Beijing, China have given the green light for a Shanghai drug company to start controlled medical studies on Tamiflu, the drug that is considered to be the most effective weapon in the battle against the H5N1 bird flu virus. The drug is being produced in China by Shanghai Sunve Pharmaceutical Company Limited with a special licence agreement with the patent holders from Switzerland, Roche Pharmaceuticals.

The medical studies are important as they must ensure that the quality and standard of the Chinese Tamiflu matches up to the level of the Tamiflu produced by Roche. Tamiflu's key ingredient is a compound called shikimic acid that comes from star anise a rare spice sometimes used in Chinese kitchens.

The drug company Sunve is one of the worldwide companies that has been given a licence to make Tamiflu by Roche, to meet the ever increasing demand for the bird flu drug. China has suffered from 10 fatal cases of H5N1 bird flu and 5 people recovered from it.

China has had to kill over twenty five million birds in the nation to prevent the spread of the disease and is keen to have stockpiles of the drug to prevent an outbreak of bird flu should it mutate to a more virulent human form.