WHO to receive two million courses of flu drug

The makers of the anti-viral flu treatment Tamiflu are to donate another two million courses of the drug to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it was announced today.

The move by pharmaceutical giant Roche follows previous donations in 2004 and last August, meaning the WHO now has 5.125 million courses of Tamiflu to help people affected in any future flu pandemic.

Tamiflu is not a vaccine or cure for flu, but can shorten the length of illness and reduce the severity of symptoms.

Countries around the world are stockpiling the anti-viral treatment as part of preparations for a flu pandemic, which could kill hundreds of thousands of people.

Roche’s donation of three million courses last year is stored in a central stockpile, while the additional two million treatment courses will be stored regionally in locations WHO decides will serve the needs of developing countries.

These countries are less able to afford to stockpile the drugs themselves.

Roche said the regional stockpiles would be used to reduce illness and deaths in the case of an outbreak of avian flu in humans, helping to prevent it from spreading.

It is widely thought that a flu pandemic will emerge when avian flu mutates into a form that is easily spread between humans. Recent cases in Turkey and Asia have involved humans catching the disease from birds.

William Burns, from Roche Pharma, said: “Roche is working as a collaborative and responsible partner with governments and the WHO to assist in pandemic planning, including the stockpiling of Tamiflu.

“We are pleased to be able to further increase our donation to the WHO and help establish regional stockpiles of Tamiflu.

Lee Jong-Wook, the Director-General of the WHO, said: “By establishing regional stockpiles of anti-virals, developing countries most likely to be affected by avian influenza in humans will be better prepared to rapidly manage outbreaks in the interest of global public health.

“It is important to emphasise that this and the previous donation does not replace the need for individual countries to consider the establishment of national anti-viral stockpiles as one of a number of measures of national pandemic preparedness consistent with the national priorities of each country.”