Two Taiwanese pharmaceutical companies have made small amounts of Tamiflu, the most effective treatment for avian flu, in a step that readies the island to manufacture its own stockpiles of the drug even if Roche declines to license a Taiwanese producer.

Taipei this month became the first government to request talks with the Swiss company on a licensing agreement. In a letter received by Taiwan's Department of Health on Monday, Roche said it was willing to conduct talks in principle and it would contact the government shortly for more information on the technical capabilities of the island's producers.