Thailand plans to make its own genetic version of the anti-viral drug Oseltamivir, found to be effective in treating bird flu, the Public Health Ministry has said.

The drug, better known as Tamiflu, will be manufactured by the Government Pharmaceutical Organization and be available to the public from October next year, chief of the Disease Control Department Thawat Sundarachan was quoted by Bangkok Post newspaper as saying Tuesday.

Thailand has ordered the active pharmaceutical ingredient of Oseltamivir from India and is expected to produce up to 50,000 capsules by next October. Currently, the drug was still in the laboratory testing stage.

"We expect clinical tests to be completed before October. But in case of a bird flu epidemic spreading among humans, we will speed up production of the medicine." said Thawat.

So far, Thailand has stocked up 660,000 capsules of imported Oseltamivir and ordered another 340,000 capsules from Swiss maker Roche Holding, the sole patent to produce the drug under the Tamiflu brand name.

Thawat said the Health Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry and the Commerce Ministry to seek a compulsory license from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to produce the drug, but did not mention whether the request has been approved.

Meanwhile, in Phanom Thuan district of the central Kanchanaburi province, some 364 free-range chickens were destroyed after many were found died of the H5N1 avian flu virus Monday. The area has been declared as an outbreak zone.

On the same day, sparrows in Ratchaburi's Muang district also succumbed to bird flu. Samples of fowl taken from chickens being raised in 26 villages around where the outbreak was detected have been sent to Mahidol University for lab testing.

Since early October, several central and northern provinces in Thailand have been stricken by the deadly bird flu virus. No human infection have been found so far.

Source: Xinhua