ZURICH (AFX) - Taiwan has approached Roche Holding AG for a licensing deal deal under which local companies could produce its Tamiflu vaccine, the most effective antiviral treatment available to combat bird flu, according a newspaper report.

The Financial Times quoted Steve Kuo, director of the island's Center for Disease Control (CDC) as saying that Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes has already made small portions of the drug, and the government is "confident" local manufacturers could mass-produce Tamiflu within a few months.

The Taiwanese government is not considering violating patent rights: "We will pay royalty fees, and the local manufacturers would not make commercial generics but manufacture for the purpose of providing the government with stockpiles only," Kuo is quoted as saying.

Kuo said he is still waiting for a response after contacting Roche Taiwan.

The move comes amid rising international concern over constraints on producing the costly drug swiftly and in sufficient quantities, given that the virus has already been found in Turkey, Russia, Mongolia and China.

afx.zurich@afxnews.com

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