Some Tamiflu Shipments Suspended

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Thursday it had temporarily suspended shipments of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to wholesalers and other private sector recipients in the United States to ensure that enough treatments will be available for the regular influenza season.

Roche spokesman Alexander Klauser stressed that the suspension would not affect the U.S. government's order for the drug.

"We have agreed orders with governments and we will fulfill them," Klauser said. "It is important that this is seen separately from the pandemic offers."

He said Roche's U.S. management proceeded with the temporary suspension because of the increased global demand for Tamiflu, the drug that experts believe would be most effective in treating a pandemic strain of flu. Demand has increased due to fears of the potential spread of bird flu.

"The priority is that there is enough Tamiflu for the people who need it at the start of the influenza season," Klauser told The Associated Press. "At the moment, there is no influenza currently circulating."

Supplies have become tight because governments and other organizations are stockpiling it in case the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu spreading from Asia to Europe mutates into a form that can pass easily to and between people, sparking a human flu pandemic.

Experts are pinning their hopes on Tamiflu to soften the impact of a pandemic. It would be used to treat the sick and those who have come into close contact them in hopes of saving their lives and stopping the spread of the virus while scientists rush to make a vaccine.

Klauser said the increased demand would mean that "over the next few weeks, limited stocks would be available in most countries."

He declined to comment on what the temporary halt in shipments would mean for U.S. pharmacies and wholesalers. The suspension was reported in Thursday editions of The New York Times.

On Tuesday, the Swiss drug giant's Canadian branch made a similar announcement that it was suspending private sales of Tamiflu in Canada until the flu season begins in December because soaring stockpile demand threatened the seasonal flu allocation.

Paul Brown, a vice president of Roche Canada, said they saw more demand for Tamiflu on one day last week than in all of 2004.

Some 40 countries are scrambling to create Tamiflu stockpiles. The World Health Organization recommends governments keep enough anti-viral drugs and regular human flu vaccines for at least 25 percent of their populations.

Local management in each country is responsible for managing the drug's distribution, Roche says.

Wholesale deliveries have also been halted or cut back in Germany and Switzerland. Klauser declined to say how many countries face similar restrictions.

Roche has donated 3 million treatments to WHO for a global stockpile in case of a flu pandemic.

Tamiflu is one of four drugs that can treat regular flu if taken soon after symptoms begin.

Bird flu has killed at least 62 people in Asia since surfacing in 2003. At least 121 people have been infected, mostly from direct contact with poultry in slaughtering, butchering or cooking, or surfaces contaminated by their droppings.