An Indian pharmaceutical company is gearing up to sell a cheap version of the leading patented antiviral flu drug Tamiflu to emerging economies, in a move that will pitch intellectual property rights against affordable access to medicines.
Tough US import controls on biological materials, introduced after the September 11 2001 attacks, hindered the rapid identification of the H1N1 virus because samples from infected Mexican patients had to be sent to Canada for analysis instead of the US.
The head of the World Health Organisation hit back at critics who have accused it of over-reaction to the swine flu crisis, warning it may return "with a vengeance" in the months ahead.
Manufacturers warned on Wednesday that limited stocks of a future swine flu vaccine could be distributed on a "first come, first served" basis, leaving hundreds of millions of people in poorer countries without protection.
Ranbaxy's shares jumped almost 10 per cent, having long been depressed by escalating investigations from the US Food and Drug Administration, triggering a ban, which is still in place, that stops the US importing or purchasing the company's drugs. Daiichi Sankyo, the Japanese drugmaker, reiterated on Wednesday that it would stick to its June offer to buy Ranbaxy in spite of its recent troubles.
Under the terms of the deal Ranbaxy will drop litigation it initiated in November 2005 and will sell Nexium from May 2014 - the expiry date of the first of a series of patents. Under US law Ranbaxy would be the exclusive generic distributor for the first six months.
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