Chinese spice in hot demand

SHANGHAI: The maker of Tamiflu, the weapon at the heart of the fight against the H1N1 flu virus, says it is ramping up production of the drug that has a main ingredient largely supplied by China.

"We have delivered 5 million emergency stocks of Tamiflu to the World Health Organization," Cao Yong, spokesman for pharmaceutical giant Roche (Shanghai), told China Daily yesterday.

"Governments worldwide have already ordered about 220 million doses of the drug."