Thank you, Granny.
I found an interesting article...
Roche donates drug to WHO for bird flu stockpile
(updates with detail, background) By Tom Armitage
ZURICH, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Wednesday it had donated enough of its Tamiflu drug to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to treat 3 million people in the event of a bird flu pandemic.
Fears of a global outbreak have risen since the potentially deadly flu virus spread from Asia into eastern Russian and Kazakhstan, and the U.N. health agency has been urging governments to stockpile antiviral drugs like Tamiflu.
"This donation is a critical early step designed to directly address an influenza pandemic at the place of origin, thereby potentially slowing the initial national and international spread of the virus," WHO Director-General Lee Jong-Wook was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the company.
"An influenza pandemic would be a serious threat to public health and it is therefore critical that all countries take steps now," he added.
Drug companies are currently working on a vaccine against H5N1 -- the bird flu which has killed more than 50 people in Asia in the past two years and forced the slaughter of millions of poultry.
Although it is not yet easily transmitted from birds to people or from person to person, experts fear it will acquire this ability and cause a worldwide pandemic such as that of 1918 in which up to 40 million people died.
In the meantime, the WHO says antiviral drugs are the best option and recommends that governments stockpile neuraminidase inhibitors -- the class of drugs to which Tamiflu belongs.
SET ASIDE
Roche will set aside 3 million packs of 10 Tamiflu pills, enough to help protect 3 million people against the virus, for the WHO. The stockpile can be deployed by the WHO wherever it sees fit in a bid to contain the possible spread of a pandemic.
Roche has received orders from around 30 countries, including Britain, France and Germany, for enough of the drug to cover between 20 and 40 percent of their populations.
The company has promised to increase production of the medicine, having doubled capacity in 2004 and again in 2005, with a further increase planned in 2006, and says it is well placed to meet the orders.
Roche's executive in charge of pandemic sales of the drug, David Reddy, told Reuters the stockpile, which comes in the form of capsules, would be good for five years and would be stored by Roche until the WHO requests shipment.
"This will not be directed towards any specific country. The rationale is to have rapid access to a stockpile of Tamiflu which could be deployed in any country which forms the site of outbreak of an influenza outbreak," he said.
Some governments, including Germany, have also opted to buy GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, an inhaled drug of the same class.
That is wonderfult that Roche is donating the drug for this flu, it is a needed goodwill gesture.
I am getting the impression that several countries have attempted to hide the disease, it comes up in Russia often that they do not tell the truth about tests and diseases that are in the countries they control.
As in the last one I posted, says they said not positive, at the same time the tests showed positive.
Anyone that is planning to travel, had better go with a set of the drugs and a live prescription from the doctor, to show that they are not taking them to sell......