Canada to Let Biolyse Make Generic Version of Roche's Tamiflu

From Bloomberg:
Biolyse Pharma Corp., a closely held Canadian firm, may soon become the first company to use a World Trade Organization treaty to make a low-cost generic copy of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu and help developing countries fight a potential avian-flu pandemic.

The Canadian government on Sept. 21 added the drug, also known as oseltamivir, to a list of patented medicines that can be produced and exported to developing countries even as the patent remains active, a process called compulsory licensing, Doug Clark, Industry Canada's director of patent policy, said in an interview today. The list, which was established in compliance with the 2003 WTO treaty and contains 58 drugs, hasn't yet been used. ...more