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Asian nations to stockpile anti-bird flu drugs

Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 13:34 CDT

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A dozen Asian nations agreed on Thursday to build a regional stockpile of anti-bird flu drugs and some governments demanded production of cheaper generic versions of the Tamiflu antiviral drug.

Details of the plan, which aims to race drugs to the site of a human outbreak within 24 hours to prevent a wider global pandemic, had still to be worked out, health ministers and U.N. officials said after a meeting in Bangkok.

"It would be the first time in the history of mankind that a pandemic has been stamped out before it happened," William Aldis, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Thailand, told reporters.

Several Asian countries, including those hard hit by the H5N1 virus which has killed 62 people since late 2003, have begun stockpiling Tamiflu, made by Switzerland's Roche AG and also known as oseltamivir. But the WHO will now work with 12 Asian countries -- including Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and South Korea -- to decide how best to deliver the drugs to "burn out" a human outbreak, or at least blunt it enough so it can be contained.

The Bangkok meeting did not decide where the regional stockpile would be, nor did the ministers agree on a timeframe for when it would be up and running.

Those details would be worked out in consultations between the WHO and the countries involved, which also include Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Bhutan, Philippines, Myanmar and Malaysia.

"What we are doing here is pushing it forward in terms of the management and logistics," Aldis said.

Scientists fear the virus, which does not pass easily between humans, could mutate to become easily transmittable and unleash a global pandemic which could kill millions.

PRESSURE ON DRUG MAKER

The threat has become more acute with the spread of bird flu to Russian Siberia and Kazakhstan. It has killed only waterfowl and poultry there, but raised fears it could spread to Europe.

Basel-based Roche, which said last week it was considering donating a "substantial amount" of Tamiflu to the WHO, is in talks to build a stockpile capable of treating a million people.

But with rich Western nations scrambling to secure supplies of the drug, poorer countries are demanding that production of Tamiflu be opened up to generic manufacturers.

"We are all very much aware of the potential of this pandemic and yet the reality is we only have one drug company that manufactures this antiviral drug," said Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque.

"I think its incumbent on us to exert pressure to open this up for more manufacturers to increase production," said Duque, whose country does not have a stockpile of the drug.

Tamiflu costs about $3 per capsule in the Philippines and a course of treatment requires 10 doses. Aldis said the cost per dose can drop to $1.70 if bought in bulk, and further if bought in powder form.

Developing countries with pharmaceutical factories can issue a compulsory license to make generic copies of patented drugs in the event of a medical emergency.

Thailand, which has stockpiled enough Tamiflu to treat 22,000 patients and another 20,000 doses of influenza vaccine, said in March it may consider producing a generic version of the drug.

The meeting did not take a decision on compulsory licensing, which Aldis called a "premature" option while the WHO was negotiating with Roche.

"We're well aware of the issue of oseltamivir supply and production and it's being worked out," he said.

Source: REUTERS

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