Stockpiling anti-viral drugs for pandemic

[hawkeye]

What are they going to do with the old Tamiflu?

May 23, 2006 11:39 am US/Pacific
Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

(CBS) RIVERSIDE The Riverside County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to stockpile $500,000 worth of Tamiflu to treat county workers in the event of a human outbreak of bird flu.

The supervisors unanimously voted to approve the request by the county’s Department of Health.

County officials said they cannot rely on state or federal authorities to supply local agencies with Tamiflu for timely treatment in the event that avian flu hits the region.

The funds will buy 7,500 courses, or units, of Tamiflu.

The stockpile will ensure an adequate quantity for health care workers until a larger supply from the federal government reaches the county in the event of an outbreak, officials said.

The medicine will be purchased in increments and ultimately replace a stockpile that is about three years old, county health officials said.

Tamiflu has about a five-year shelf life.

By funding the stockpile, county workers, especially hospital workers, should be able to remain on the job to treat victims of any pandemic, according to a county report.

"Creating a local stockpile of Tamiflu will provide a mechanism to ensure that essential county employees receive timely treatment or post-exposure prophylaxis, and will maximize the personnel resources available to provide critical services," the report states.

Tamiflu is the recommended pharmaceutical to treat influenza, according to the report. The medicine can reduce symptoms even after symptoms first appear and could prevent illness if taken before exposure, county officials said.

In reported bird flu cases, mostly in Asia, 50 percent of the people infected have died.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports that without a vaccine or drugs, a "medium level" pandemic would kill between 89,000 and 207,000 Americans and sicken between 20 and 47 million more.

 

[DB]

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

These people are gonna have to get in line.

And I hear the line is rather long.

 

[hawkeye]

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

I hope they don't throw away their current stockpile away thinking they are going to be able to replenish with ease.

-hawkeye

 

[Carlos]

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

Kind of surprising that my county would spring the bucks. Better late than never though.

 

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

Re: Riverside Agrees To Stockpile Tamiflu For Pandemic

Welcome Carlos. I'm surprised any county would fork out that kind of money. It also suggests those sitting on the county board of supervisors have a better grasp of the situation than do most counties. They do seem to have a disconnect however with the length of time to replenish their stocks. Either that or it is a feel good statute that really just means, "well we tied to get you more, see. Now go back to work".

 

[Lyro]

Stockpiling Tamiflu for Pandemic

Stockpiling Tamiflu for Pandemic

CALIFORNIA TO STOCKPILE BIRD FLU TREATMENT
By Tomio Geron (Scripps-McClatchy Western Service)
July 11, 2006 (Santa Barbara News Press)

Sacramento, California -- California is purchasing over 3.7 million treatments of anti-viral drugs to treat a human form of avian influenza in the event of a pandemic.

The state's budget, passed June 30, allocated $53.3 million to stockpile drugs officials said are needed to protect against a potentially deadly outbreak of bird flu.

Photo: Dr. Howard Backer. Consult his biography >>>

The money will cover the state's share of Tamiflu and Relenza - the two common treatments for the H5N1 virus - according to Dr. Howard Backer, chief of the California Department of Health Services' immunization branch. Tamiflu will account for 90 percent of the drugs used to combat the spread of bird flu in California.

Under a plan proposed last fall, the federal government will pay 25 percent of the cost of the treatments, with states covering 75 percent.

The state's planned supply is separate from a national stockpile the federal government is purchasing and will also make available to states.

Backer said an outbreak of influenza is a real possibility.

''There's no way to tell when a pandemic would happen,'' Backer said. ''The important thing is pandemics happen naturally and regularly. Like the earthquake, we know it'll happen. We just don't know when.''

California's money will buy enough of the anti-viral drugs to treat at least 10 percent of the population. The state will then tap into the separate federal supply to reach its goal of covering 25 percent of the state's residents.

More than a third of the treatments purchased with the state money will be set aside for Los Angeles County, the state's most populous area.

The state and federal government should have enough of the anti-viral drugs by December 2008 to treat a quarter of the nation's population, according to health officials. That's how many people may be affected in a pandemic.

Each Tamiflu treatment consists of 10 doses in capsule or powder form taken over five days, Backer said. Relenza is inhaled.

Neither drug is a vaccine, but both are used to treat and limit the spread of influenza. A vaccine is not produced until after a virus is spread so that the specific virus can be targeted, Backer said.

Backer said that individuals should take standard emergency preparedness measures including storing food, medications and hand sanitizers.

Backer, who helped create the state's flu pandemic plan, said the state is working with businesses, schools and organizations to prepare.

The state's Tamiflu will be supplied by Roche Laboratories, Inc. On Friday, the federal government announced a deal with Roche to purchase 31 million treatments of Tamiflu over two years. This supply will be redistributed to individual states.

While there is today no increase in danger of a pandemic, California's plan to be ready by December 2008 appears distant, said Dr. Christian Sandrock, an infectious disease physician at UC Davis Medical Center.

But ''reasonably it's about the best you can do,'' he said.

California will order the drugs by Aug. 1, the deadline federal officials set for states to report how much of the drugs they plan to buy. But it's unclear when the companies can deliver the drugs.

A shortage of a star anise found in China used to make Tamiflu is a factor in setting the December 2008 target date, Sandrock said. Also slowing the plan is Roche being the only company producing the drug, though it has begun to contract out the production.

Worldwide, 130 people have died of avian influenza since the first human case was documented in 1997, according to a federal report released last week.

Source