A Guangzhou factory has applied to Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche for a licence to produce the Tamiflu anti-viral drug and says it has the capacity to produce enough to treat three million people.
'If we are needed to produce Tamiflu, we can produce 20 million to 30 million capsules - the equivalent of treatment for one million to three million people,' a Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical spokeswoman said, without specifying the time frame.
She said the company had submitted a written request to Roche for a licence to produce its version of Tamiflu and was waiting for a response.
The company worked with Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health to produce the medicine in test laboratories and would make it in co-operation with the Baiyunshan Huaxue Pharmaceutical Factory.
State media quoted Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical factory manager Chen Mao as saying it would have no problems sourcing star anise, from which shikimic acid, a key material for the production of Tamiflu, is extracted.
The company planned to start commercial production if authorised by Roche, but if it failed to get a licence and a pandemic broke out, World Trade Organisation rules allowed a waiver of patent protection for non-commercial production to supply the province, Mr Chen said.