The Synthetic-Technical Development of Oseltamivir Phosphate Tamiflu™: A Race against Time

The clinical development of the first orally available neuraminidase inhibitor prodrug oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu™) proceeded very fast. In order to support this program an unprecedented team effort in chemical process research, development, piloting, production and analytics took place, which allowed the successful launch of Tamiflu™ in 1999, only two and a half years after it was licensed from Gilead Sciences. This article describes selected aspects of the commercially used synthesis route and a brief summary of alternative syntheses devised by Roche chemists.