Strides Arcolab has commenced the commercial supplies of Oseltamivir capsules to various countries. The company is one of the few approved manufacturers in India of this product as a generic equivalent of Tamiflu of Roche.

At present, limited stocks of Oseltamivir are available but Stride is gearing up capacities to produce in excess of 2 million doses per month starting June 2009.

Strides' generic Oseltamivir is manufactured in its US FDA approved and WHO pre-qualified oral dosage forms manufacturing facility in Bangalore; bio-equivalence to Tamiflu has been established.

Aloka Sengupta, president - Business Development India Operations, stated "We are particularly well equipped to handle such emergencies as we specialize in manufacture and supply of products that are used to treat similar disease epidemics"

Strides, manufactures formulations in various dosage forms, including sterile injectables with dedicated facilities for Penicillin and Penems, Cephalosporins, Oncolytics and lyophilized injectable products. The company also manufactures pharmaceutical formulations in oral dosage forms, including capsules & tablets and softgel capsules.

It also has a collaboration agreement with Aspen Pharmacare involving a range of products and territories including a joint venture in the Oncolytics space in Bangalore. Recently, the JV concluded a significant transaction with GSK to outlicence products for GSK's emerging market strategies in over 95 countries.