Flu anti-virus causes 17% profit jump

Roche, the maker of bird flu anti-viral Tamiflu, yesterday announced a third quarter revenue increase of 17 per cent thanks to a jump in sales of the drug.

The Swiss firm said sales of Tamiflu had more than doubled to SFr279m (£123m) and the companies overall sales for the quarter ending September climbed to SFr8.8bn.

Earlier in the week Roche agreed to share the know-how to allow other manufacturers to make generic versions of the drug in order to counter a global pandemic which could kill up to 150m globally according to the UN. World leaders have pressed Roche to open up with patents with America insisting again yesterday that the Swiss company must allow other manufacturers to produce Tamiflu.

The company is now producing Tamiflu as it can with its own limited resources. Britain joined the legion of interested buyers yesterday. Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, announced that the Department of Health is inviting manufacturers to tender for a contract to supply pandemic flu vaccine once the pandemic strain is known.

The company said: “Roche will continue to take action, both on its own and with a significant number of suppliers to increase production capacity for Tamiflu to meet seasonal and pandemic needs.”

Although Tamiflu is reckoned to be the best weapon against bird flu, however, some experts do not believe it will work. Many say it will be impossible to tell until the first human to human transmission is verified.

“Patents will not stand in the way of producing the drug for mankind,” Roche chief executive Franz Humer announced in Frankfurt, confirming that Taiwan had asked for permission to make the drug. As expected, one-off sales of the antiviral drug lifted quarterly sales, and Roche said it expected more in the fourth quarter, bringing total sales of the drug this year to between SFr1.1 and 1.2bn.

“We believe we have orders for a further SFr200m to SFr250m in the fourth quarter,” William Burns, chief executive of Roche’s Pharmaceuticals division, adding it was too soon to make forecasts for next year.

Morgan Stanley said that capacity for the drug was limited in the short term but that “the duration of the Tamiflu ‘bubble’, driven by government stockpiling, was likely to last much longer than two years”.