Who profits? 5. (more to come).
Its Roche: this piece from Times Online is not very new, I've also repoted on it earlier, but the details are important:
- Roche, which is the world's only manufacturer of Tamiflu (remember: they got it from a company previously headed by the present US war minister, Rumsfeld), revealed that group sales had surged to more than £11.1 billion in the third quarter, driven by "significant growth" in sales of the drug.
"Worldwide sales of Tamiflu rose to 859 million Swiss francs [£377.2 million], mainly as a result of increased orders for pandemic readiness supplies. Roche has donated 3 million packs of Tamiflu to the World Health Organisation for use as a rapid response stockpile in the event of an outbreak of a pandemic strain of influenza."

"The group has already significantly expanded its Tamiflu production capacity several times, and Roche will continue to take action, both on its own and with a significant number of suppliers, to increase production capacity for Tamiflu to meet seasonal and pandemic needs."

Shares in Roche, which is listed on the SWX stock exchange in Switzerland, edged higher to 222.70 Swiss francs during the morning. The shares are up nearly 50 per cent on the year so far.