Tamiflu Distribution Begins Again In Canada

Roche Pharmaceuticals in Canada has started selling the bird flu drug Tamiflu again to pharmacies following a lack of supply and great demand. This was aprtly due to the fact that internet pharmacies were buying up stock and then increasing the price dramatically as to take advantage of bird flu scares in Canada. In an effort to prevent this happening again, Roche will put a limit on the amount of Tamiflu that each pharmacies can buy and will taje note of any regional discrepancies in sales patterns.

Roche Canada said that they would not allow pharmacies to profiteer from the bird flu scare and would immediately investigate any malpractice. The events of last October where pharmacies were sold out but internet operators had thousands of packets at vastly inflated proces would not occur again according to a Roche spokesman.

The worldwide birdflu H5N1 strain is making some people panic and they will pay big prices for the Tamiflu drug that is reported to be an effective cure for it. The demand for the drug is far greater than the supply, and in fact it was not just profiteers who were buying the up stocks but also individuals who wanted to be sure they had enough and who were over buying to be safe. This practice is considered to be dangerous for public health and is discouraged.

Most of the Roche production of Tamiflu is going to governments so that it can be administered in case of a pandemic, however Tamiflu is also a regular flu drug and so it can normally bought in pharmacies. It is almost impossible for Roche to know whether people are buying in panic or whether they are hoarding it. In fact the lack of supply of Tamiflu has made it more difficult for those who really need it to treat a normal dose of flu as it was only available in hospital and health centres when supply to pharmacies was cut off.