Thailand and the Philippines are free to begin making their own versions of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu in preparation for a bird flu pandemic, the medicine's maker Roche Holding AG said on Monday.

　　The pill, which governments are stockpiling as a precaution against a virulent outbreak of flu, does not have patent protection in either country, meaning that the Thai and Philippine governments are free to make their own versions.

　　The move follows a similar decision by Indonesia last week and could create a source of cheap Tamiflu for other developing countries who are unable to afford the Roche-branded drug.

　　"Tamiflu is not patent protected in these countries and so there is no question about granting a license or sub-licence (for production)," a Roche spokesman said.

　　There will be no financial consequences if the two southeast Asian countries begin their own production of the drug, he said.

　　Taiwan, where the drug has a patent, has said it would produce Tamiflu under compulsory license if its stocks run dry, surprising the Swiss firm which says it can meet demand.

　　The drug is protected in China and has a patent pending in India.

　　Roche maintains that Tamiflu is hard to produce, taking around a year since it requires a chain of different processes, some of which are dangerous.

　　The spokesman declined to comment on how close any of the three governments are to being able to produce Tamiflu domestically.

　　"It is not up to us to speculate about that. As a responsible company we remain willing to discuss with them whether we can contribute," the spokesman said.

　　Indonesia, which has confirmed 12 cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian flu virus, said on Saturday it would begin making the anti-viral drug in three to five months.

　　The country will likely appoint state-owned drugs companies to produce the treatment. Patents for the drug in major markets are held by the drug's inventor Gilead Sciences Inc, while Roche holds a development and licensing agreement.

泰国菲律宾被许生产抗禽流感药“达菲”

　　瑞士药品制造商罗氏控股公司28日宣布，该公司允许泰国和菲律宾开始生产“达菲”(Tamiflu )以应对禽流感爆发。

　　据路透社11月28日报道，罗氏制药一位发言人当日表示：“‘达菲’在这些国家不受知识产权保护，因此不存在给予其(生产)许可证或转授特许权的问题。”这位发言人强调说，泰国和菲律宾两国可以开始生产本国“达菲”，并且“不会有任何经济上的后果发生”。

　　罗氏制药曾在上周宣布，它准许印度尼西亚在其境内生产销售“达菲”。许多发展中国家因无力支付相关专利费用而不能得到足够的“达菲”。罗氏制药28日的决定可能为这些国家生产“达菲”进一步打开方便之门。

　　目前，“达菲”在中国受到专利保护，在印度处于专利未决期。中国台湾省当局早些时候表示，一旦“达菲”库存耗尽，当局将在强制许可条件下着手组织生产这种抗禽流感药。

　　根据世界贸易组织WTO知识产权第31条规定，特殊情况下可实行“强制许可”(Compulsory License)，也就是成员国政府及其授权的第三者(私有制药厂)在提出合理的商业条件以取得专利使用权未果后，可不经拥有专利权的厂商授权而使用此专利。若是成员国面临国家紧急危难，且不为商业用途时，则不必与拥有专利权者协商，只需在合理的实际情况允许下“告知”拥有专利权的厂商，便可自行使用此专利。

　　尽管罗氏制药强调“达菲”生产过程需1年左右，需经过不同甚至危险的工序，但印度尼西亚政府仍于26日宣布，该国将在3到5个月内开始这种药的生产。迄今，印尼已证实有12例人感染H5N1型禽流感病毒的病例。

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