Bird Flu Drug Mass Production Technique Discovered

creepygeek writes to mention a New Scientist article detailing a new process for creating Tamiflu, an antiviral drug currently thought to be our best defense against the bird flu. From the article: "Making Tamiflu is slow, partly because shikimic is hard to get, but also because one step in the process involves a highly explosive chemical called an azide. As a result, Tamiflu can be made only in small batches of a few tens of litres at a time. But Elias Corey of Harvard University - who won a Nobel prize in 1990 for chemical synthesis - and colleagues have devised a new way to make the drug from two cheap, plentiful petrochemicals, acrylate and butadiene."

Good News....right?

[TripMaster Monkey (862126)]

From TFA:

The biggest hope for saving people at the start of a bird flu pandemic, before a vaccine is available, is the antiviral drug Tamiflu

It's too bad that our 'biggest hope' is not up to the task, as the following articles assert:

• Flu drugs 'will not work' if pandemic strikes [guardian.co.uk]
  
• Tamiflu May Not Be So Effective Against Bird Flu [medicalnewstoday.com]
  
• Bird flu proving resistant to Tamiflu treatment [msn.com]
  

It might be better to just stock up on old-fashioned Jewish penicillin [ivillage.co.uk].

Re:Good News....right?

[by Anonymous Coward]

It might be better to just stock up on old-fashioned Jewish penicillin.

Not a good plan. If Bird Flu strikes, chicken will be rarer than shikimic acid.

Re:Good News....right?

[Philip K Dickhead (906971)]

Yeah, but Tamiflu is a great scam for Rumsfeld, who made millions as a former Executive with Gilead - the developer of this nonsense.

Take two Vioxx, and call me from Iraq in the morning.

Re:Good News....right?

[moro_666 (414422)]

how do these articles even get posted ?


Tamiflu, an antiviral drug currently thought to be our best defense against


AFAIK Tamiflu doesn't Defend you from the virus, it just makes easier for the body to Fight it once you're already infected. you can still die, and if you've been illusional enough to waste your Tamiflu before you got ill the chances will be even better (since there won't be any on the market when/if it will/should ever hit in).

There's still no birdflu here that could move from one mammal to another via air. There are lots of other viruses around that deal much greater damage at the time being, perhaps we should pay attention at them aswell ?

ps. even if you buy a ton of tamifly, the animals that you need around for the farming industry to work, won't be protected, and if it's half as bad as it supposedly could be, you'll just die into hunger. hopefully wild animals have better protection against it than the worthless humans.

Re:Good News....right?

[thebdj (768618)]

Two of the three articles reference to the same write-up from the NEMJ. It is also possible, though I cannot be sure, that the third article's journal reference could be a submission from the same individual. Now, I do not know how much to trust what they say about Tamiflu still being the best option, because saying otherwise would just lead people to freak out when the pandemic comes, but I believe it would probably still be one of the better options.

Drug resistances happen because virii and bacteria mutate over time. This is a big reason why many traditional antibiotics are becoming less useful against certain bacteria, and a possible cause for some of the "super bugs." And if your idea for fighting bird flu is with chicken soup, we truly are screwed.

Re:Good News....right?

[Pedrito (94783)]

It's impossible at this point to determine how resistant the bird flu will be to Tamiflu if it becomes an easily contagious pandemic form. The reason? Because to become easily contagious, it has to mutate. When it mutates, it becomes a different virus which may be more resistant than the current strain, less resistant, or the same.

The difference from a mutation can be enormous. For example, the current virus has about a 50% mortality rate. It is very like when that when it mutates, this mortality rate will go down. The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 had only a 2.5-5% mortality rate and that was without Tamiflu. That doesn't mean this one will mutate into only having a 2.5-5% rate. It will likely have a higher rate, and frankly, I think a lot of the predictions of how many will die from an H5N1 mutant pandemic are lowball figures because they do tend to assume a pretty low mortality compared to what it's currently at.

But you're basically comparing apples and oranges at this point. A pandemic flu will not be the current strain because the current strain simply isn't contagious enough.

Mortality rates

[tjwhaynes (114792)]

For example, the current virus has about a 50% mortality rate. It is very like when that when it mutates, this mortality rate will go down.

I have problems with these mortality figures. It's very easy to determine who died from bird flu - you have a body, death certificate, medical records, etc. It is NOT easy to work out who has had the bird flu and has survived in the general populace - not all sick people will have seen a doctor and some may not even have developed symptoms. Without doing a massive study looking for bird-flu antibodies, the mortality figures are almost certainly overblown, maybe by orders of magnitude. This applies whether we are talking about the impact on birds or on humans.

Cheers,
Toby Haynes

Better solution - universal vaccine

[PIPBoy3000 (619296)]

A new vaccine [yahoo.com] has been developed that targets the part of a flu virus that is conserved between mutations. Admittedly it might not be as effective as a targeted vacciene for a particular strain, but it would likely provide general protection against most flu viruses. So far it's been tested in ferrets (a good human model) and protects against H5N1 avian influenza.

Is it almost over?

[Phantombrain (964010)]

Can I come out of my air-tight bubble yet?

Good news...

[DaHat (247651)]

If we believe the hype that the bird flu is a real threat to the health of the people of the world... which despite the hype from the media and the upcoming ABC made for tv movie... I have yet to see any credible evidence of despite much looking.

Re:Good news...

[meringuoid (568297)]

If we believe the hype that the bird flu is a real threat to the health of the people of the world... which despite the hype from the media and the upcoming ABC made for tv movie... I have yet to see any credible evidence of despite much looking.

Every so often, a mutant flu strain arises that kills millions of people. Most famously in 1919, when more people died from flu than were killed in the entire four years of unprecedentedly bloody warfare just past. IIRC there were two more major flu pandemics in the twentieth century, although neither were as devastating.

Sooner or later there WILL be another flu with the ability to kill millions. The only way we have of preventing another 1919 is to spot the threat before it gets going and prepare a vaccine. Hence the worry over H5N1. It's entirely possible that it will all blow over. It's also possible that it will mutate to a form that can spread from one human to another, and become pandemic. If it doesn't, well, great. If it does, we'll be glad we prepared.

For myself, I'm far more afraid of a mutant strain of bird flu killing me than I am of terrorists killing me. That said, I'm more afraid of being hit by a car than I am of either of them, but that doesn't stop me crossing the road...

Re:Good news...

[TheOtherChimeraTwin (697085)]

Well said. Our society tends to ignore events with a low probability of occuring. (What are the odds a hurricane could hit New Orleans, right?) A pandemic will happen again someday; we just don't have a schedule.

Experts like Robert G. Webster are worried about H5N1, so it makes sense to take some precautions.

The Great Influenza by John Barry will scare your socks off, and it is all historical fact.

A good source of information about a possible pandemic is fluwikie.com [fluwikie.com]

Re:Good news...

[mikeisme77 (938209)]

Exactly. The media is always blowing something out of proportion as the next big threat to humanity (or the US):

-Killer bees (there was a movie on this one too)
-SARS
-AIDs (several movies)
-Terrorism
-Anthrax (related to the above)
-Small Pox coming back
-Etc.

While they're all threats, they aren't just going to all of a sudden just break out all over the place. The media loves to feed off our fears--as it sells almost as well as sex. When it explodes, THEN freak out about it, but until then enjoy life.

Educate yourself

[GuloGulo2 (972355)]

"Influenza
o The "Asiatic Flu", 1889-1890. Was first reported in May of 1889 in Bukhara, Russia. By October, it had reached Tomsk and the Caucasus. It rapidly spread west and hit North America in December 1889, South America in February-April 1890, India in February-March 1890, and Australia in March-April 1890. It was purportedly caused by the H2N8 type of flu virus and had a very high attack and mortality rate.

Thanks, but...

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer the highly explosive vaccine, thank you very much...

Biggest chance to save people?

[mothlos (832302)]

How about education and municipal plans to regarding epidemics? Anti-virals might be the best chance of treating those who have bird flu, but the best practice is to contain the virus early and give the medical community time to develop a real vaccine defense.

This is nice work, but...

[thisisfrankscortex (968290)]

I think the most notable thing about this paper is that the last sentances read "It is our hope that the process described herein will be of value in improving the opply of oseltamivir and in reducing the cost. With regard to the latter, the process described herein in in the (unpatented) public domain."

We just need Yogi Bear.

[by Anonymous Coward]

I hear Yogi Bear is quite good at getting baskets full of shikimic. I might have heard wrong, though.

Hey Boo-Boo, let's go grab the shik-a-mic basket, the mi-grr-a-tor-ee birds are coming with the flooo!

Real threat? Real solution?

[hj43us (728114)]

Till know aound 50 people worldwide had died of bird flu. I guess more people die being stroke by a lightning. But the worst thing is that nobody knows whether Tamiflu will cure bird flu or not. Meanwhile health authorities all over the wold had been doing massive buys of that medicine ... sounds weird. I, for one, start a business of selling a new drug that is suppossed to protect you against being struck by a lightning. I'm already taking orders. Anyone?

Re:Real threat? Real solution?

[Tibor the Hun (143056)]

The problem with your argument is that chickens do not transmit lightning strikes to each other, nor has it ever been documented that one organizm can transmit a lightning strike to another. (Though there is a Sci-ops contingent known as E.E.L.S. that has moderate success.)

For anyone wanting expert info on the threat

[brian0918 (638904)]

For anyone who believes that it is all hype, or knows little about bird flu, I highly recommend this extremely informative discussion Charlie Rose had with 3 experts on the subject. It is by no means overly technical.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2343414988 689203314 [google.com]

The truth is that it is not hype; just because we know about it well ahead of the time when it will actually affect us doesn't mean that it will not be a threat. The most interesting part of that discussion is the possibility that people with AIDS will be the least likely to be harmed by bird flu, since it is the overactive immune system--in response to the foreign disease--that ultimately kills you.

some chemistry clarification

[bodrell (665409)]

Roche's current production methods use the azide (which is not as hazardous as news articles would have you believe), but their own scientists have already come up with an azide-free route (though it still uses shikimic acid). See for yourself:

J. Org. Chem. 2001, 66, 2044-2051.

"New, Azide-Free Transformation of Epoxides into 1,2-Diamino Compounds: Synthesis of the Anti-Influenza Neuraminidase Inhibitor Oseltamivir Phosphate (Tamiflu)"

Martin Karpf* and Rene Trussardi F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Pharmaceuticals Division, Non-Clinical Development, Chemical Process Research, Grenzacherstrasse 124, CH-4070, Basel, Switzerland

Google scholar should show at least the first page.

Corey's synthesis is pretty nifty. It just needs FDA approval and Roche has to adopt it. Given that Roche has had an azide-free route available since 2000, I'm thinking the process change is more than trivial. The Chemical and Engineering News article is much more informative, if you have access to that journal, and you like chemical structures.

RTFWA

[PatrickThomson (712694)]

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamiflu [wikipedia.org] and tfa, it seems that the new process which this article is about has been released patent free. IAAOC (I am an organic chemist) and the new synthesis is safer and less dependant on difficult-to-obtain natural precursors. These guys should be applauded for sacrificing a profitable idea for the greater good.

Re:So patent it quickly

[TapeCutter (624760)]

Roche have dragged their heels with licenses for over a year, they finally issued a few licenses [ip-watch.org] after several governments threatened to force a license agreement on them. Regardless of the eventual merits of the drug, Roche's lengthy "license negotiations" are an exercise in pure greed.

Re:Bird flu?

[mgblst (80109)]

*raised stump*