February 1, 2006

US plans to buy more bird flu medicine
 

The Bush administration is intent on dramatically increasing the nation's stockpile of Tamiflu, a drug that can lessen the severity of bird flu, Roche's president told lawmakers Tuesday.

George Abercrombie, president and CEO of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., a unit of Swiss-based Roche Holding AG (RHHBY), told a Senate panel that his company received a "letter of intent" from the Health and Human Services Department on Friday. The letter stated that purchases of Tamiflu for the US stockpile this year may total enough to treat 46 million people, up from a previous estimate of 15 million.

The drug Tamiflu is considered one of the tools that the US would use to reduce the impact of a pandemic, which occurs when an epidemic sweeps across the world.

Health officials are concerned that a bird flu virus primarily in Southeast Asia has the potential to become a pandemic if the virus mutates to the point that it can be spread from human to human.

Roche officials declined to share the letter, but Abercrombie said the plan calls for the states ordering 28 million treatment courses and the federal government ordering 18 million.

Roche has filled the government's stockpiling orders to date, enough to treat about five million people. Abercrombie told senators that global demand for Tamiflu means that the US government must demonstrate a sustained commitment to buying the drug if it wants to ensure that a supply will be available when the need arises.