Australia asks Roche to reprocess expired Tamiflu stock
This article was originally published in Scrip
The Australian government has asked Roche to reprocess a small amount of the 1.6 million expired packs of Tamiflu (oseltamivir) it has in its stockpile.
Earlier this month Roche said that it was having confidential discussions with governments around the world about extracting the active ingredient from expired stock as one way of boosting the number of treatments available in the event of a pandemic of influenza A (H1N1), but did not reveal which countries were interested (scripnews.com, May 12th, 2009).
"While we are unable to comment on the specific details of the contract we have with the Australian government and their stockpile management, we can confirm that the government agreed for Roche Australia to repackage a very small proportion of the returned stock to expedite supply to the market to meet an unprecedented medical need," Roche told Scrip.
"Utilising this repackaged stock ...will be a temporary measure only until new, longer dated stock is available to meet commercial demand here in Australia," it added.
Other measures have been taken to boost global stocks of Tamiflu. A number of countries (EU, Canada, Australia, US, Japan, Israel) have extended the shelf-life of Tamiflu from five to seven years . This month Roche donated 5.65 million packs of Tamiflu to the World Health Organization to boost stocks as well as increasing Tamiflu production capacity.
The Indian firm Cipla, which has WHO prequalification for its version of oseltamivir, has also said it would supply the product to emerging economies, including Mexico, if it has indemnity from governments relating to potential patent infringements (scripnews.com, May 20th, 2009).