The meeting comes after two academics in Australia urged the Australian government to consider issuing compulsory licences to overcome patent barriers and allow local companies to manufacture generic antiviral drugs.
Australian National University researchers Buddhima Lokuge and Peter Drahos said the move would overcome patent barriers which prevent the production of generic versions of the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir, marketed as Tamiflu and Relenza.
Australian companies could then produce the antivirals to boost domestic stockpiles and export surplus medication to such regional states as Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, which lack the capacity to manufacture their own drugs.
"Control of the disease in potential source countries is in Australia's national interest," Dr Lokuge said in an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Wednesday.
"Patent owners would be entitled to adequate remuneration under such a licence, and thus would receive payments for doses it does not have the capacity to produce."
Looks good to me, Relenza is easier to manfacture then tamiflu i sthat right?? if that goes ahead i think you might see bta go for a wee bit of a run
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