February 27, 2006

Japanese researchers find new way to make bird flu drug Tamiflu
 

Japanese researchers have developed a way to make Tamiflu, an anti-viral drug believed to counter the symptoms of bird flu in humans, without using a botanical ingredient used by Swiss drug maker Roche, news reports said Saturday.

The drug currently uses Shikimic acid, which is derived from the Chinese anise fruit, widely sold dried as a popular spice and medicinal herb. Huge volumes of the plant are needed, with 30 kilogrammes of anise pod yielding only 1 kg of acid.

A research team at the University of Tokyo can now manufacture the drug using the chemical 1,4-cyclohexadiene instead of Shikimic acid, according to reports carried by the Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News agency.

The university has applied for a patent on the method, Kyodo said.

Experts believe Tamiflu--technically known as oseltamivir--would be the best defence in the initial phases of any global influenza pandemic, and governments and companies have been stockpiling it because of fears about bird flu.

H5N1, a particularly potent strain of bird flu, has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people since 2003, mostly in Asia. Fresh outbreaks have been reported in birds in 14 countries this month.