Complexity Of Tamiflu Manufacturing May Hamper On-Demand Production
AMANDA YARNELL · Chemical & Engineering News · 2005
From the sourcing of the raw material to the production of capsules, it takes a full 12 months to make Tamiflu, according to Martin Karpf of Swiss drug giant F. Hoffmann-La Roche’s synthetic and process research group. Manufacture of the oral antiviral, thought to be the most promising weapon against avian influenza currently available, involves time-consuming routes to the starting material and steps that require potentially hazardous azide chemistry.