Tamiflu Saves Money

The deaths from the bird flu pandemic would be halved...

Mathematical and statistical research was recently done in Canada on the subject of Tamiflu and how to use it to prevent a major bird flu pandemic in a country. According to the lead researcher if you have a Tamiflu stockpile that will be sufficient for 65 percent of the country’s population the deaths from the bird flu pandemic would be halved.

Professor Beate Sander from the University of Toronto reckoned that the widespread use of the Tamiflu influenza drug was possibly the most cost effective method to save lives and beat a full on pandemic. Sander said that it may even be prudent for governments to make sure that they have more the 65 percent requirement of Tamiflu. 

Tamiflu is a drug that is complicated to make and thus it is expensive. This has meant that some countries have been unable to stock up with very big stores of Tamiflu and these countries could be at risk should a pandemic break out. The World Health Organisation recommends that countries should have at least enough Tamiflu for 25% of their populations but this research possibly means that the 25% quota is not enough.

They are many initiatives that can be implemented when a bird flu pandemic breaks out such as quarantining people and preventing the movement of people and goods around the country, however many of these initiatives are extremely costly to implement and will end up costing the nation millions of pounds in lost productivity. The scientists conducting this research reckon that Tamiflu despite being expensive is nevertheless the most cost effective option for dealing with a bird flu pandemic in any country.

Tamiflu is made by the drug company Roche which is based in Switzerland. The huge demand for Tamiflu all over the world when bird flu started appearing meant that Roche had to licence production of Tamiflu to other companies in different parts of the world and thus Tamiflu is now made in many different factories.