NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. government said on Friday it will spend about $149 million under a two-year contract with Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG to provide federally subsidized Tamiflu tablets to all 50 states, so they can begin stockpiling the drug as a potential treatment for any pandemic influenza outbreak.
“Our ultimate goal is to stockpile sufficient quantities of antiviral drugs to treat 25 percent of the U.S. population,” U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt said in a release.
Under the contract, 59 jurisdictions will be able to buy Tamiflu at a federally negotiated price from Roche and receive a 25 percent federal subsidy for a prescribed number of treatment courses, the release said.
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