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China-made Tamiflu approved for production
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-13 16:43 A Chinese company has been
approved by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) to produce the
anti-flu drug, Tamiflu, sources with the SFDA said Tuesday.
Tamiflu is
an anti-viral drug which is considered the most effective treatment available to
counter the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Tests showed the domestic Tamiflu
was as effective and safe on humans as the imported version, said an official
with the SFDA.
It would be used to treat type A and B flu in adults and
children over the age of one, and to prevent type A and B flu in adults and
youngsters over the age of 13.
Buyers must have a doctor's prescription
and take the drug under guidance, the official said.
Swiss
pharmaceutical firm Roche Swiss granted a sub-license for the production of
Tamiflu to the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group in December. Clinical studies on
the effectiveness of Tamiflu began in March.
Tamiflu was invented by
US-based Gilead and licensed to Roche in 1996. Roche, based in Basel, now has
exclusive world-wide rights for the manufacturing and marketing of the medicine.
The latest bird flu outbreak occurred in remote Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region early this month has been contained, with more than 17,100
poultry slaughtered. The country has reported more than 30 outbreaks in birds
since last October.
China has reported 18 cases of human infection of
bird flu since last November with 12 fatalities. The last case was confirmed on
April 27.
Globally, 225 human infections, including 128 deaths, have
been recorded by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the WHO
website.
The central government is strengthening prevention and control
of bird flu although no new human cases have been confirmed for more than a
month, a health official said Monday.
"We are still keeping a close eye
on bird flu and have strengthened scientific research and nationwide
surveillance," said Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an at a press
conference.
So far, the virus outside of the human infections had shown
no sign of mutation, and human-to-human transmission was still unproved in
clinical studies, he said.
China's Ministry of Agriculture also issued
an emergency order Monday for local governments to tighten controls over poultry
stocks to prevent bird flu contamination by migratory birds.
The order
calls for strict supervision of areas below all possible flight paths of
migratory birds, lakes and other sites with a record of bird flu infection.
Farmers living in these areas are advised to keep their poultry in coops
to avoid contact with the migratory birds.
The ministry also ordered
immediate reporting of any dead poultry or wild birds to county-level animal
epidemic prevention agencies, and suspected cases must be reported to the
state-level bird flu laboratories.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government was
working closely with international organizations in fighting bird flu.
Last week, China joined in a pandemic response exercise in prevention
and control of bird flu held by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),
which aimed to test the preparations of the organization's members for an
epidemic in terms of information sharing, technological support and prevention
of cross-border spread.
On Tuesday, a center was set up by China and the
World Health Organization to fight infectious diseases including influenza.
The center, based in south China's Guangdong Province, will become a
training base of southern provinces of China and may expand to become a training
center for neighbouring countries, according to WHO.
It will also work
with the Guangdong CDC laboratory to detect emerging infectious diseases and
carry out epidemiological research and study the origin of diseases that can be
spread from animals.
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