Taiwan is ready to produce its own Tamiflu, the antiviral avian flu drug, and will not let patent talks with Swiss drug maker Roche AG stand in the way, officials said.
The island's National Health Research Institute showed media late on Friday a generic version of Tamiflu produced by its laboratories, which it said was 99 percent similar to Roche's drug.
"The congress and the government in Taiwan have already decided to produce Tamiflu, starting from right now .... once we obtain the material," Su Ih-jen, head of the clinical division at the health institute, told Reuters.
The Taiwan government was among the first in the world to seek permission from Roche to make Tamiflu, but it has yet to receive an authorisation. "We have tried our best to negotiate with Roche. It means we have shown our goodwill to Roche and we appreciate their patent. But to protect our people is the utmost important thing," said Su, a former chief of the Centre for Disease Control.