DOH gets anti-bird flu drug from Swiss firm

The Department of Health (DOH) has received 75,000 capsules of a drug used to treat humans sickened by the bird flu virus, the start of a stockpile for the Philippines, which is still free of the virulent strain of the disease, a health official said yesterday.

A second shipment of 25,000 capsules of oseltamivir, known as Tamiflu, from Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is expected in January along with 10,000 more from the World Health Organization, said Dr. Luningning Villa, program manager for emerging infectious diseases at the DOH.

"Basically, it’s a standby drug for treatment of avian flu cases coming from birds to humans, and it’s also a standby drug for cases of initial outbreaks of pandemic flu," Villa said.

The H5N1 strain of the virus has ravaged poultry stocks across Asia and killed at least 71 people since 2003. Most human deaths have been traced to exposure to sick birds, but health officials fear the virus could mutate into a form easily passed between humans, possibly triggering a global pandemic.

Philippine pharmaceutical company United Laboratories Inc. has pledged to manufacture and donate $1.25 million worth of oseltamivir to the government stockpile as the country braces for the possible entry of the disease.

Villa said the Unilab donation would be available by February.

"What we would like to emphasize here is the judicious use of antiviral agents," Villa said. "Like now, everybody is asking that they be given (oseltamivir), but we can’t do that. We’re not encouraging individual stockpiling."

The Philippines has banned imports of all domestic and wild birds and poultry products from countries affected by the disease.

Officials have tightened surveillance over 55 swamplands that draw migratory birds, and have been conducting regular blood tests of ducks and chickens in nearby areas. — AP, Mayen Jaymalin