A recent series of bird flu-related fatalities in Indonesia has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to alert the pharmaceutical company Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, to stockpile additional doses of this medication in preparation for a potential global flu outbreak.
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Tamiflu (Photo: diariomalaga) |
To date, the Swiss pharmaceutical company has provided the WHO with five million doses of the drug, and with the help of its partners, Roche has pledged to produce 400 million doses annually starting in 2007. Roche stated it would distribute Tamiflu anywhere in the world at any time as needed. This is the first time Roche has been placed on such alert. If there are no new cases of H5N1 within the next two weeks and the situation stabilizes, the alert status will be lifted.
On the same day, the WHO confirmed that the death toll from bird flu infections in Indonesia has reached 36 out of 48 reported cases. The organization has also sent an additional 9,500 doses of Tamiflu along with protective equipment to Indonesia. Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has urged people in various countries to abandon the practice of keeping chickens and ducks indoors, and all poultry-related businesses should be conducted at designated locations.
* In a meeting in Switzerland, the WHO passed a resolution to stimulate research and modify funding methods to deliver urgently needed medications to poorer countries. This resolution is viewed by many as a breakthrough, as the current production and distribution system focuses primarily on patents, leaving millions of impoverished individuals without access to essential, high-cost medicines. Thus, in the future, poorer countries may hope for the availability of affordable drugs to treat diseases such as AIDS and malaria.
