Friday, December 2 2005 10:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Leading Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL) has offered to provide oseltamivir phosphate capsules (generic version of Tamiflu) to the United States healthcare system to meet the possible threat of Avian flu if asked by the American government or its innovator Roche Laboratories Inc.

Roche Laboratories has, in fact, been in talks with Ranbaxy in recent weeks to explore various avenues for partnership between the two companies in order to meet the immediate and critical requirements of oseltamivir phosphate.

Brian Tempest, the CEO and Managing Director of RLL, yesterday said it would able to produce 22 tonnes per annum of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) based on Ranbaxy's proccess within six months.

"Within a twelve month period, we would expect to scale up our operations to produce a total of 100 TPA. The 22 TPA level translates to a total of approximately 300 million 75 mg capsules, and within a year to a total of 1.3 billion 75 mg capsules," he added.

The API, he said, would be manufactured in Ranbaxy's FDA-compliant facilities in India, and the capsules could be manufactured at its U.S. Facilities. It is estimated that within the first six months approximately 20 million patients could receive a course of treatment, and within the first year in excess of 100 million patients could be managed for Avian flu.