Asia nations agree to stockpile anti-bird flu drugs

A dozen Asian nations agreed on Thursday to build a regional stockpile of anti-bird flu drugs and some governments demanded production of cheaper generic versions of the Tamiflu antiviral drug.

Details of the plan, which aims to race drugs to the site of a human outbreak within 24 hours to prevent a wider global pandemic, had still to be worked out, health ministers and U.N. officials said after a meeting in Bangkok.

"It would be the first time in the history of mankind that a pandemic has been stamped out before it happened," William Aldis, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Thailand, told reporters.

Several Asian countries, including those hard hit by the H5N1 virus that has killed 62 people since late 2003, have begun stockpiling Tamiflu, made by Switzerland's Roche AG and also known as oseltamivir. But the WHO will now work with 12 Asian countries - including Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and South Korea - to decide how best to deliver the drugs to "burn out" a human outbreak, or at least blunt it enough so it can be contained.

The Bangkok meeting did not decide where the regional stockpile would be, or on a timeframe for when it would be up and running. Those details would be worked out in consultations between the WHO and the countries involved, which also include Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Bhutan, Philippines, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Tamiflu

"What we are doing here is pushing it forward in terms of the management and logistics," Aldis said.

Scientists fear the virus, which does not pass easily between humans, could mutate to become easily transmittable and unleash a global pandemic that could kill millions.

PRESSURE ON DRUG MAKER

The threat has become more acute with the spread of bird flu to Russian Siberia and Kazakhstan. It has killed only waterfowl and poultry there, but raised fears it could spread to Europe.

Basel-based Roche, which said last week it was considering donating a "substantial amount" of Tamiflu to the WHO, is in talks to build a stockpile capable of treating a million people. But with rich Western nations scrambling to secure supplies of the drug, poorer countries are demanding that production of Tamiflu be opened up to generic manufacturers.

"We are all very much aware of the potential of this pandemic and yet the reality is we only have one drug company that manufactures this antiviral drug," said Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque.

"I think its incumbent on us to exert pressure to open this up for more manufacturers to increase production," said Duque, whose country does not have a stockpile of the drug.

Tamiflu costs about $3 per capsule in the Philippines and a course of treatment requires 10 doses. Aldis said the cost per dose can drop to $1.70 if bought in bulk, and further if bought in powder form.