Tamiflu: the rise of the swine flu drug
Updated on 08 December 2009
A household name and a recession-buster? Channel 4 News takes a look at the story behind Tamiflu and how swine flu made it big business.
Who makes Tamiflu?
Roche is the Swiss drugs firm which manufactures Tamiflu, under license from Gilead Sciences (GILD.O).
Tamiflu is the main anti-viral treatment being used around the world today to control the effects of swine flu (H1N1).
Basel-based Roche is also behind the breast cancer drugs Herceptin and Avastin, which have contributed to profits in recent years.
But it is the flu drug which is behind Roche's current boom. Roche makes all forms of Tamiflu.
The rise of Tamiflu
Tamiflu's first major peak in sales followed fears of an avian flu pandemic in the middle of the decade. In 2007, this helped Roche report a net income of £3.7bn, an annual profit increases of 34 per cent.
As the fear of bird flu faded, a profit dip followed for Roche. But as the spread of swine flu began to gather pace, so too did the bulk orders for Tamiflu from governments around the world.
The US, Britain and several other western countries are believed to have stockpiled enough Tamiflu to treat 220 million people.
Huge orders have also been placed by non-western countries, including six million doses bought by Saudi Arabia, meaning overall sales are estimated to be £1.6bn.
Swine flu and Tamiflu
Despite the downturn, Roche has seen a return to good results since it saw profits decrease by 29 per cent in the year to July 2009.
The swine flu pandemic, which first hit the headlines in Mexico in May 2009, has triggered a marked turnaround in fortunes.
For the third quarter of 2009 the Roche group saw sales rise by 10 per cent to £12.4bn. Sales of Tamiflu more than quadrupled in the first nine months of the year.
Roche expects to have produced 400 million packets of the drug by the end of 2009, in direct response to H1N1.
Drug firms: the rivals
In November, Roche's CEO Severin Schwan said he expected to post end-of-year figures that will "outpace rivals".
Like Roche with Tamiflu, GlaxoSmithKline has bucked the recession with sales of another anti-flu drug, Relenza, as well as the swine flu vaccines.
Profits at pharmaceutical firms who are not involved in making swine flu-related drugs have generally not fared so well.
Tamiflu:2010
By the start of 2010, Roche will be ready to supply up to 400 million packs of Tamiflu annually.
In addition, Roche has granted sub-licences to three manufacturers to produce a generic version of the Tamiflu drug for future use in China, India and several developing countries.
Tamiflu is available in 75mg capsules for adults, 30mg and 45mg capsules for children and as an oral suspension liquid.
Earlier this month Roche announced it had begun shipping additional quantities of Tamiflu, aimed at children, to the US.
