SURGING sales of Tamiflu, one of only two anti-viral drugs that could be used to fight a global pandemic if bird flu makes the jump successfully from waterfowl to humans, yesterday helped to lift thirdquarter turnover at Roche by 17 per cent.

The Swiss drugs group said that sales of Tamiflu had more than doubled to Sfr 279 million (£122 million) in the three months to September 30, lifting total sales during the quarter to Sfr 8.8 billion.

The group, which is struggling to meet demand from governments looking to stockpile Tamiflu against a possible pandemic, said that it now expected sales of Tamiflu to exceed Sfr 1.2 billion for the full year.

William Burns, chief executive of Roche’s pharmaceuticals unit, declined to give forecasts past the full year, although he reiterated that the company expected a double-digit increase in sales of medicines over the whole year.

Shares in Roche have jumped nearly 40 per cent this year, largely as a result of demand for Tamiflu and the drug developer’s range of cancer treatments. However, the shares failed to defy a bad day for stock markets across Europe, falling 2.5 per cent amid some disappointment that the results were not better.

Roche again sought to deflect pressure to divulge the chemistry behind its flu drug, saying that it would continue to do what it could to bolster production in case of a pandemic outbreak.

Experts at the World Health Organisation have given warning that, were bird flu to mutate into a human virus, up to 150 million people might be expected to lose their lives.

The Basle-based company also benefited from strong sales of anti-cancer treatments, fuelled by a near-doubling in sales of Avbastin, a treatment for colon cancer, to Sfr 486 million. The company said that growth in its anti-cancer portfolio helped to offset the the expiry of a patent for Rocephin, an antibiotic.

The Swiss drugs maker vowed to ensure that emergency supplies of Tamiflu would be made available to governments as mounting evidence appeared to suggest that bird flu is establishing itself in Europe.

Franz Humer, chief executive, said that the company would not let the legalities of patent rights stand in the way of resisting a pandemic: “We will talk to anybody — including people who can manufacture the drug faster than we are able to produce it”.

He said that Roche had enough capacity to satisfy demand for a normal flu season and was working with governments to increase supply.

Explore Health

• Expert Advice

• Health Features

• Mental Health

• Alternative Medicine

• Child Health

• Health Club