US hoarding prompts flu pill maker to halt supply

Reuters | October 27, 2005
By Tom Armitage

Drug maker Roche halted supplies of its Tamiflu pill to the United States on Thursday to head off hoarding by consumers fearing bird flu, but two suspected human cases in China and France turned out to be false alarms.

Roche Holding AG said it had halted deliveries of Tamiflu to the United States and Canada until the start of the flu season. Media coverage of the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had driven sales higher, the company said.

"This resulted in increased demand for Tamiflu in part from individuals who are doing private stockpiling and at the moment there is no influenza circulating and the threat of a pandemic has not (materialized)," a spokeswoman said.

"Our priority is to ensure that Tamiflu is available for seasonal use and to fulfill government orders," she added.

Health care information collector Verispan said more than 67,000 U.S. Tamiflu prescriptions were dispensed for the week ending October 21 -- quadruple the demand from the same week last year.

Tamiflu is considered the first line of defense against the H5N1 avian flu virus that some fear could spark a catastrophic pandemic if it mutates to allow human-to-human transmission. The drug can reduce the severity of influenza and may slow its spread.

Governments are scrambling to buy it, but production is limited. Under pressure from generic drug companies, developing nations and the United States, Roche agreed this month to discuss granting licenses to others to make versions of Tamiflu.

Cao Minh Quang, head of Vietnam's Pharmaceutical Control Department, said it had asked Roche to franchise Tamiflu production to Vietnam, where bird flu has killed 41 people.

"But in the situation of a pandemic, we will start the production without permission," Quang said.

CONTAINING A PANDEMIC

Some experts have predicted that, should H5N1 mutate to become a human disease, an epidemic could be contained with the quick use of drugs such as Tamiflu and widespread quarantines.

Health officials have urged quick notification of suspected cases, and France and China both reported potential H5N1 human infections earlier this week.

But on Thursday France said tests on one of three tourists suspected of catching H5N1 in a Thai bird park showed he was not infected.

And China said a girl who died also tested negative.

H5N1 avian flu has forced the destruction of more than 140 million birds in Asia and the eastern parts of Europe and officials say it is on a steady march across the world.

So far it has only affected 121 people and killed 62 in four Asian nations -- Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. But much of the Tamiflu buying is due to fears that governments are doing little to stop it.

"No one in the world today is fully prepared for a pandemic," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt agreed in a speech on Thursday.

"If a pandemic hits our shores, it will affect almost every sector of our society -- not just health care, but transportation systems, workplaces, schools, public safety and more," Leavitt added. He said a long-awaited U.S. plan for dealing with a pandemic would be released "soon".

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Worried that time was running out to pass legislation to fund any agenda, the U.S. Senate approved nearly $8 billion to help stockpile vaccines and drugs.

Leavitt said his agency had ordered 5 million courses of Tamiflu and a similar drug called Relenza, made by British-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

He also announced a $62.5 million contract to Chiron Corp. to expand its production of an experimental vaccine against H5N1. This adds to a $100 million contract given to Sanofi-Aventis in September to make more of its H5N1 vaccine.

GlaxoSmithKline and Maryland-based MedImmune also have H5N1 vaccines under development, as do companies in Hungary, Australia and elsewhere. The vaccine against the annual flu does not offer any protection against H5N1.

Glaxo Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier said his firm had found a way of using an adjuvant, or additive, to stimulate a stronger immune response and make it possible to use less material from the hard-to-grow virus in each vaccine.

U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization head Dr. Jacques Diouf said he was still hoping for pledges from nations to support moves to control H5N1 at its source -- in poultry.

"We are very anxious because the problem started in November-December of 2003," Diouf said in an interview in Washington. He said FAO had spent $2 million to warn countries of the danger but $175 million was needed just to start education and outreach efforts.

Even more will be needed if farmers are to be compensated for culling birds, he said -- which will be an important way to encourage them to do so if their flocks become ill.

The World Health Organization issued some guidelines for control, also, saying poultry workers, cullers and veterinarians should wear special clothing and take antiviral drugs to protect them from bird flu.

People suspected of having been infected should be placed in immediate isolation, investigated, and checked for signs such as fever for 14 days, it added.

(Additional reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington, Lindsay Beck and Guo Shiping in Beijing, Kim Coghill in Hong Kong, Michael Perry in Port Moresby, Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi and Ben Hirschler in London)

Last modified October 28, 2005