Posted on 10/20/2005 7:47:37 PM PDT by neverdem
Trend likely linked to fears of pandemic. Health officials deplore hoarding of antiviral drugs because it reduces supplies needed by the public.
Internet sales of antiviral drugs at some online pharmacies are up by 1,000 percent or more this year, and health officials, who suspect the trend is related to fear of a flu pandemic, are calling the practice of hoarding both unethical and dangerous.
Private U.S. citizens, including many in Colorado, are purchasing huge amounts of antiviral drugs online, according to several pharmacies.
"We are strongly discouraging this," said Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer.
"This behavior ... has the potential to reduce supplies that are available for seasonal flu," said Bill Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Tests have shown that both Tamiflu and Relenza can disable the H5N1 strain of bird flu that has killed about 60 people in Asia this fall.
But buying the drugs and tucking them into a drawer in case a pandemic strikes is a bad idea for personal and public- health reasons, health officials said.
Viruses often develop resistance to drugs, experts said. Moreover, antivirals, especially Tamiflu, are in short supply this year, Hall said, and they're needed for the regular flu season. The sole manufacturer, Switzerland's Roche Holding AG, has announced it will build a plant in the United States.
"Their production capacity clearly can't meet demand," Hall said.
Online, demand by individuals is skyrocketing.
"It's crazy," said Mark Catroppa, a vice president with CanadaMedicineShop.com in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company has about 175,000 U.S. customers.
Last year, his company sold no more than 10 doses of Tamiflu or Relenza in any month, with no orders from Colorado, Catroppa said. During the past two weeks, about 400 people a day ordered the drugs, with deliveries to Colorado representing 7 percent of sales, he said.
Drugstore.com, based in Bellevue, Wash., declined to disclose actual sales amounts but reported a huge spike of Tamiflu orders this month. "Demand is well over a 1,000 percent increase over last year," said spokesman Greg French.
People ordering the drugs preventively should be aware that they may not be effective against a flu strain that does become pandemic, said Dave Daigle, spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
A yet-unidentified strain of flu could end up becoming the bad one, Daigle said, and there is no way to test the drugs' effectiveness against such unknowns.
The drugs may be effective against the H5N1 avian strain today, he said, but for that virus to go pandemic, it must evolve the ability to move easily between people.
Such genetic changes also could make the virus more or less responsive to antivirals, Daigle said.
Colorado officials said their primary concern is being able to fight this year's seasonal flu.
Every year, 600 to 900 Coloradans die of influenza, most of them older than 65.
"Wouldn't you feel terrible if you had a prescription sitting in your drawer and an elderly person or child died because they couldn't get access to Tamiflu?" asked Gwen Huitt, infectious-disease specialist with National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
The federal government is stockpiling Tamiflu, other antiviral drugs and flu vaccines to use in fighting a pandemic, should one hit, she said.
In the case of a flu pandemic, health officials would distribute medicine and vaccines from the national stockpile according to a plan, with health-care providers and people who are most vulnerable to dying of flu among the first who would be treated, according to Health and Human Services.
"I understand there are people who have lost faith in the government's ability to protect them," Huitt said, "but this (hoarding) is not prudent."
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
Guess they didn't read the articles that said that Tamiflu didn't work on H51N.
So, the manufacturer should keep making the product but no one should buy it.
So, the manufacturer should keep making the product but no one should buy it.
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FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list. Anyone can post any unrelated link as they see fit.
Yep the gov will take care of you! AFTER they take care of themselves if there is anything left. Nothing pisses socialists off more than someone solving a problem or preparing for a problem with out their enlightened concern
dawn53, I believe you're referring to a story about a Vietnamese female who survived infection with a strain of H5N1 that showed resistance to Tamiflu.
Did anyone learn anything from Katrina? Are you waiting for the government to dole out a medicine that you can get for yourself? What is the shelf life for Tamiflu
sefarkas, you raise some good points. I have no idea of what is the shelf life. You have to trust the expiration date from an internet provider.
That's a lot of people. Crispy Creme and a Coke anyone?
Brilliant! "So, the manufacturer should keep making the product but no one should buy it." Don't you know that one of the ways they ruined the vacination biz. The government would buy it all, but if they didn't need it, they would not pay for it. Hillary.
It was brilliant. It was also sarcasm.
Just read an article that stated three other manufacturers were in discussion with Roche to be able to manufacture Tamiflu. With Roche's help they could be making it in one month. Without help, three months.
The pressure of the free market has pushed production way up, not the whiners in the article.
The labels say 1 or 2 years, but the actual shelf life is more like 10 or 20. They would give a 3 year shelf life to sodium chloride, despite the fact sea salt has been around for billions of years unchanged. Ok, except for the occasional neutrino absorption or proton decay...
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460159
Actually, the articles I've read said it does. So does Relenza. Unfortunately there is no 100% solution to any virus or bacteria. Its just a roll of the dice, but if I got this 1918-type flu I'd damn sure want to take either one of those anti-viral drugs as they have been proven to mitigate the effects of most of the types of flu out there today including H5N1.
Are you sure about this?
Tamiflu Chemical Structure
Neuraminidase inhibitors are designed to inhibit, or "plug" the active site of an enzyme, called neuraminidase. Neuraminidase is found protruding from the surface of the two main types of influenza virus, type A and type B. It enables newly formed viral particles to travel from one cell to another in the body. By inactivating neuraminidase, viral replication is stopped, halting the influenza virus in its tracks.
Would be worth a try if people are droping like files around you
For most drugs, using them beyond their expiration dates would probably have a negligible loss of pharmcological activity depending how old they are and their storage conditions. You don't want a cavalier attitude with expired tetracycline, or you may get Fanconi’s syndrome. I wouldn't be surprized if there are other drugs with expiration dates that need to be respected.
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