Roche’s Tamiflu drug could halve flu-pandemic death toll

Roche said that according to research presented by Beate Sander, University of Toronto, Canada, a stockpile of Tamiflu sufficient to cover 65% of a country’s population could cut deaths by approximately half.

The World Health Organization has recommended Tamiflu as a first-line defense in the event of a pandemic, and governments are stockpiling the drug.

But “the reality is that country stockpiles of Tamiflu are limited and are targeted at treatment only rather than treatment and prevention” said Roche. However, some governments are now planning for sufficient antiviral stockpiles that will allow them to provide Tamiflu preventatively to close contacts of infected individuals.