Brussels, 19/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Swiss laboratory Roche announced on 18 October that it would further extend its production capacity of the anti-viral drug oseltamivir, which is sold under the name Tamiflu. The press release issued by the company points out that animal tests have shown that the drug is effective against the bird flu virus H5N1. It adds that Roche intends to satisfy all demand, which has seen a huge increase since a number of countries decided to stockpile this product in case of a pandemic of human flu. However, the WHO director for Alert and Response Operations, Mike Ryan, feels that supplies (of Tamiflu) are absolutely inadequate to face up to a potential pandemic, reports Reuters, summing up discussions between the WHO and the Swiss group on an increase in production. These talks shortly followed the announcement by the magazine Nature of the first documented case of a H5N1 virus which was resistant to oseltamivir. The virus in question did, however, respond to another anti-viral drug of the same family, zanamivir, which is sold under the name Relenza This is likely to lead to talks resuming on stocking this drug, which had been passed over because it does not exist in an intra-venous injectable form or as a spray. "We are not happy with stock levels. All Member States will have to make efforts in this area", said a spokesperson for the European Commission, Philip Tod, on the eve of the informal meeting of health ministers, to be held in Rickmansworth, United Kingdom, on 20 and 21 October.