CHRISTMAS trees into Tamiflu – it doesn’t quite have the ring of “swords into ploughshares”, but it may save as many lives. That, at least, is what the Canadian firm Biolyse Pharma of St Catharines, Ontario, is suggesting.
Flu pills from Christmas trees
Tamiflu, aka oseltamivir, is the one drug that works against bird flu, and governments are hoarding tonnes of it in case of a pandemic. Problem is, the drug is expensive. The patent-holder, Roche, has said one reason for this is that the drug has hitherto been made out of a rare molecule found in a particular variety of…
