NEWS: Roche Suspends Sales of Tamiflu, page 1

Roche the pharmaceutical company that makes Tamiflu has announced that it is suspending sales of the anti-viral to pharmacies worldwide. They are taking this precautionary measure to safeguard the supply before the start of the yearly influenza season.

www.cbc.ca
Demand for Tamiflu increased sharply over the last few weeks as governments, individuals and businesses stockpiled the drug because of fears avian influenza outbreaks could trigger a global pandemic in humans.

"We saw more demand in one day last week than we saw for an entire flu season in the previous year," said Paul Brown, a spokesperson for Roche. The company said it is being responsible by managing world supplies, to ensure people who need the drug during the regular flu season are able to get it.

Once the regular season begins, the company said, it will release Tamiflu to hospitals and long-term care facilities for those at greatest risk of complications from the flu.

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So it seems that the H5N1 scare has resulted in hoarding and maybe even some panic buying.

It could lead to people with real influenza this season out of luck because people are affraid of the one that has yet to be confirmed with human to human transmission.

So now that you can't have Tamiflu... do you want it even more?
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Related News Links:
CBC Background on H5N1

[edit on 10/25/2005 by Gools]