Lab tests have confirmed that at least some of the chickens that died of bird flu in western India in recent weeks were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain, the country’s first case of the disease.

THE Swiss manufacturer of the only available anti-flu drug announced it was building a new US plant to increase production amid fears of a major flu outbreak.

A GlaxoSmithKline patent for its number one product, the asthma medicine Seretide, has been revoked by a British court, a decision that may make it difficult for Europe’s biggest drugmaker to fend off generic challenges in Britain.