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Antiviral Award by DHS

M

mixin

Well-known member
I was looking at the Federal Business Opportunity site and see that there have been 2 contract awards posted Sept. 26, 2008.

One is to Roche for Tamiflu in the amount of $9,389,120
One is to GlaxoSmithKline for Relenza in the amount of $3,518,640
Total of $12,907,760.

What got my attention was this (on both awards):
"Antiviral medicine Zanamivir/Relezna for the DHS Antiviral Stockpile for pandemic and avian influenza preparedness. The stockpile is needed in order to have a readily available supply of medicines to protect DHS personnel in the event of a pandemic to ensure continuity of its essential services and overall critical mission."

So, I wondered just how many people the DHS employed and found this from the bestplaces site:
"Number of Employees in 2004: 126,276
Number of Employees in 2005: 127,969
Number of Employees in 2006: 128,791"

So I estimate there might be around 130,000 now.

If my information links and math are correct, either DHS is paying over $90 per person for antivirals (which seems high priced)
or are they possibly stockpiling for family members also?
Maybe there are other explanations?

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=list&tab=list
http://www.bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/agency.php?code=HS00&q=scores_large
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

they could be planning for prophylaxis, not just treatment.
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

I found the solicitation which stated:
'Each capsule shall contain 75 mg of oseltamivir phosphate.
Each package shall contain capsules sufficient for one course (5 days treatment or 10 days prophylaxis).
It is anticipated that the ordering period of the resulting contract will include a 12-month base and two (2) 12-month options."

I also found a pdf document on the site with the quantity, price and amount all blacked out. I also found: "Roche is the only source that will satisfy the agency requirements." So there was no competition with other companies.

Most of the other solicitations list amounts; I'm curious why the cost and amounts of antivirals would not be disclosed.
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

The links at this site don't always take me where I want to go. I think this is a good one https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportu...c18d51ded90140377969a0dc05c&tab=core&_cview=0

It's down towards the bottom: justification_redacted. I tried to copy it but I can't seem to copy some types of chart, graphs from pdf files.

I found this site that gives the cost of Tamiflu as $302.75 for a treatment; so maybe $90 for DHS isn't so bad after all.
http://www.medicalmailbox.com/index.php?prod=Tamiflu&cat=0
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

mixin said:
The links at this site don't always take me where I want to go. I think this is a good one https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportu...c18d51ded90140377969a0dc05c&tab=core&_cview=0

It's down towards the bottom: justification_redacted. I tried to copy it but I can't seem to copy some types of chart, graphs from pdf files.

I found this site that gives the cost of Tamiflu as $302.75 for a treatment; so maybe $90 for DHS isn't so bad after all.
http://www.medicalmailbox.com/index.php?prod=Tamiflu&cat=0
Click to expand...

Got it - Here is the direct link to the redacted justification:

https://www.fbo.gov/download/20b/20.../HSHQDC-08-R-00081_justification_redacted.pdf

This is part of the paperwork trail necessary when a government contracting officer awards a "sole source" contract. In this case, Roche is the only supplier. As part of the government contracting process, agency officials are required to develop their own internal estimates of the cost of a particular contract. The redacted parts in this document (in July, 2008) relate to the the government's estimate of cost per dose and total cost (based on some unspecified number of total doses).

The award amount that was posted was probably the total award for the base year, with options to purchases additional doses over the next two years at the same per unit rate. The numbers were redacted so that Roche (and us) will not know whether or not Roche's price per dose was less or more than the original government estimate.

What we don't know is how many doses were ordered. I think your estimate of $90 is the absolute lowest price per dose. What if only 20% of the DHS employees are considered "essential" and thus need Tamiflu stockpiled for them. In that scenario, the price could easily have been over $300 a dose.
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

Out of curiosity, I called 2 pharmacies; one is a WalMart in Goshen and the other is located in Martin's supermarket in Elkhart. WalMart Price for routine 10 pill course of Tamiflu: $97.36 and Martin's is $98.39.

These are retail prices; I would hope our govt is getting a better deal. Especially since gs saw Tami priced $30 lower on the net.

So I'm back to speculating either they consider every employee in HDS a tier 1 person or they are stockpiling for family members.

Since I'm not agreeable to their tier scheme, I don't find any of the above explanations acceptable. I hope someone can come up with a better one.
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

mixin said:
Out of curiosity, I called 2 pharmacies; one is a WalMart in Goshen and the other is located in Martin's supermarket in Elkhart. WalMart Price for routine 10 pill course of Tamiflu: $97.36 and Martin's is $98.39.

These are retail prices; I would hope our govt is getting a better deal. Especially since gs saw Tami priced $30 lower on the net.

So I'm back to speculating either they consider every employee in HDS a tier 1 person or they are stockpiling for family members.

Since I'm not agreeable to their tier scheme, I don't find any of the above explanations acceptable. I hope someone can come up with a better one.
Click to expand...

Wow! In Italy Tamiflu is sold for EUR 35,00. (box with 10 capsules, 75mg), prescription drug only.)
 
Re: Antiviral Award by DHS

$60.81 US? I wonder how much of a markup you all have over there. Ours is prescription only, too.

Let's comparison shop!!
 
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