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There are reports that India is considering breaking drug maker Roche’s patent on the influenza drug Tamiflu in order to ensure that the country and others are stocked against what officials worry could turn into an avian flu epidemic. The World Trade Organization sanctioned the possibility of patent breaking in 2003, but only in cases where the public good outweighed the bad.
While no country has broken the patent, health officials worldwide are worrying about shortages of the flu vaccine. Tamiflu is one of two drugs believed to be able to combat the potentially deadly virus.
US Food and Drug Administration officials have recently expressed concern over the potential for counterfeit versions of Tamiflu to be manufactured illegally. The FDA cautions patients and doctors against using any counterfeit medication or against stockpiling supplies of Tamiflu or any other influenza drug.
The FDA has begun instituting a rapid response team to ensure that the US has enough of the officially produced Tamiflu in case of an avian flu pandemic. Worry has spread worldwide about the resistant strain of H5N1 avian flu that has already killed 60 people in four countries. The flu strain does not infect humans easily, however, though if it did attain this capability it would inevitably cause a large scale pandemic.
The deadly virus is resistant to amantadine, one of four widely used flu drugs. Two additional drugs: Tamiflu, made by Roche and Gilead Sciences, and Relenza made by GlaxoSmithKline, are both effective in staving off the virus. Reports about another drug called rimantadine show positive results in treating the flu virus.
The worry comes after last year’s flu season during which the vaccinations were in short supply due to infected or inadequate quality drugs. US FDA officials are cautioning people to not take any counterfeit medication for any reason.
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