SHANGHAI, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Scientists in Shanghai and two pharmaceutical companies in Jiangsu province have successfully developed ways to produce the anti-bird flu drug Zanamivir, based on a licensing agreement with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline(GSK), China Daily reported Friday, citing local media report.

Zanamivir is an antiviral medication that can block the action of influenza A and influenza B, the two most common types of flu. The drug, marketed by UK-based GSK under the trade name Relenza, is said to be on par with Oseltamivir, a drug produced by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche under the trade name Tamiflu, in battling bird flu in humans.

GSK reportedly licensed Chinese companies to produce Zanamivir in 2006 but it did not offer related techniques to make the drug. It also needs to be approved by Chinese authorities for sale in the country.

The drug has received approval from the State Food and Drug Administration for clinical tests, the Shanghai-based Orient Morning Post said on Tuesday.

Roche has reportedly granted sub-licenses for the production of the generic drug Oseltamivir to the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group and the Shenzhen-based HEC Group in 2005, while Zanamivir was not manufactured and sold in China until 2006 when GSK signed a licensing agreement with the Nanjing Simcere Pharmaceutical Group.

The agreement grants Simcere the right to make generic copies of its influenza drug Relenza for developing countries and is intended to expand supplies of Zanamivir in areas worldwide that may be on the frontline of a possible influenza pandemic, according to GSK.

"At that time, we invited the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nanjing Effact Pharm Drug Development Corp to join efforts to make the generic Zanamivir, because GSK provided limitedtechnical support in synthesizing such drugs," Cao Song, a spokesman for Simcere said.

The deal may help reduce the price of Zanamivir in China and other countries covered by it, Cao said.

Approval for clinical tests was issued on Nov 7, but the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica announced the breakthrough only recently.

The final form of the drug will be a powder that is inhaled, earlier reports had said.

"Test procedures for the drug Zanamivir are still being decided. It would take a long time to complete the clinical trials," said Xu Xiaoping, a member of the institute.
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