The bird flu pandemic scare has been around for quite a number of years now and the countries that have built up big stockpiles of the Tamiflu drug are finding themselves in a dilemma about what to do with them as the expiry dates approach. The problem is especially worse for the poorer Asian countries that have seen the brunt of the H5N1 virus over the last few year and who have spent millions of much needed pounds to make sure that all was in place and that Tamiflu was ready for a big bird flu pandemic.

Now they are having to work out where they are going to find the money for new stocks of Tamiflu and are debating whether they should stock up again at all. Some people argue that the millions of pounds that were spent on Tamiflu previously have only saved a few lives as the much expected pandemic never occurred and that money would have been better spent in helping people with other illnesses and investing in the infrastructure of these poor countries. It maybe that the bird flu pandemic threat will be present for as long as a decade and in the meantime other health initiatives like stopping tuberculosis and AIDS and will have to be placed on the back burner.

Countries that come to mind are Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines that were the first to get the big orders of Tamiflu and whose supply is therefore due to expire soon. The Health Authorities if these countries will have to consider carefully what the priorities of these countries are health wise and whether they can afford to take a big bet on the H5N1 virus never mutating to a contagious human form.

Tamiflu that is made by the drug company Roche is recommended as a first line defence against a bird flu pandemic and poorer countries were given access to the drug more cheaply than the richer nations but nevertheless the cost has run up into many millions of pounds that could be spent elsewhere. Tamiflu will be effective for 5 years if it is correctly stored and looked after. Roche say that they are looking for ways of extending that shelf life and will be testing older stocks of the drug to see if they are still effective against the H5N1 virus. The WHO has its own supply of millions of Tamiflu tablets that were donated by Roche and these will one day expire too and it has not been made clear if Roche will replace them.