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Tamiflu: Roche's Tamiflu
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As fears spread about a potential flu pandemic, Roche's antiviral drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) has found itself thrust under the spotlight. With the current supply thought to cover just 2% of the world population, health officials and researchers are asking how Roche can create enough supplies to be stockpiled and help control an outbreak until a vaccine can be made. Of all the proposals suggested, it is ironic that the best solution to controlling a flu pandemic with an antiviral drug could lie within bacteria.
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The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its safety review of Roche's Tamiflu and Glaxo's Relenza. Next week, an outside group of pediatric experts is scheduled to review the safety of several such drugs when used in children.
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The World Health Organization has called for urgent studies on Roche's flu drug Tamiflu to determine its effectiveness in the fight against bird flu in humans. In a statement from its Geneva headquarters, the WHO said there was no clinical evidence of the anti-viral drug's efficacy against the deadly H5N1 virus. But it reaffirmed that Tamiflu should be used to treat suspected cases and to prevent the disease in healthcare workers or others who may have been exposed to infection. The highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has killed about 100 people, more than half of those who have contracted it since late 2003. Experts fear a pandemic if the disease evolves into a form that can be transmitted easily among humans. Roche, which is based in the northern Swiss city of Basel, said on Thursday it was boosting output of Tamiflu, whose generic name is oseltamivir, by a third to meet increased demand from governments building stockpiles for a potential pandemic triggered by bird flu.
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GSW Worldwide, a leading global healthcare advertising agency, received two Gold awards in the Best Unbranded TV Advertisement/Campaign category and Best Total Integration Program for Large Companies category for its work on behalf of Roche's Tamiflu. Both awards honored the television, print, out-of- home and interactive DTC campaign that GSW Worldwide developed to educate consumers about the flu. Using a tie-in with Warner Bros. movie, Happy Feet, the campaign creatively engaged the target audience through a variety of channels including a non-branded Web site, www.fluFACTS.com.
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Researchers at Queen Mary Hospital, London, have revealed that Roche's Tamiflu, an anti flu drug, works against the bird flu virus H5N1 strain (the most lethal one). They say the drug is effective against avian and human forms of the virus.
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Roche's Tamiflu