Roche, GSK urge employers to stockpile flu drugs

The Roche Group of Switzerland, Tamiflu's maker, and the U.K.'s GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the maker of Relenza, are offering U.S. employers the option of paying a $6 annual fee, per treatment course, to reserve their own stockpile.

The manufacturers will store and replace the drugs when their shelf life expires after five years, and companies won't have to make big outlays for something they hope they won't need--all major concerns employers have raised.

"They need to be prepared" before a pandemic hits, Mike McGuire, Roche's head of marketing for anti-infective drugs, said Friday.

If a flu pandemic occurs, officials say it likely would take at least five months for a vaccine to be ready. That means antiviral drugs will be the first line of defense in trying to limit the flu's spread, and Tamiflu and Relenza are the only drugs specifically recommended for that by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. There is some evidence they would work against a pandemic flu, but their effectiveness cannot be measured until a pandemic occurs.

The two drugs got a big boost in the last couple years as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bought large quantities for its national pandemic stockpile, and state governments and some foreign countries also stocked up.

Both drugmakers greatly expanded manufacturing capacity to meet that demand, but now can make far more than the general public buys for seasonal flu, and sales have fallen sharply. For example, global Relenza sales totaled $168 million in 2006, peaked at $524 million last year--half of that in the United States--and plunged to $64 million globally in the first half of 2008.

The U.S. stockpile will only cover a small percentage of the population, so Health and Human Services in June encouraged employers to plan ahead to protect their employees.

"Private stockpiles (would) improve the ability to achieve the national pandemic response goals of mitigating disease, suffering and death, and minimizing impacts on the economy and functioning of society," the department's recommendations state.

Roche followed that lead by starting its program weeks later, and GlaxoSmithKline launched its own earlier this month.