Tamiflu no longer works for dominant flu strain

[Adsos Letter]

Source: LA Times
By Mary Engel
February 4, 2009

A milder than usual U.S. flu season is masking a growing concern about widespread resistance to the antiviral drug Tamiflu and what that means for the nation's preparedness in case of a dangerous pandemic flu.

Tamiflu, the most commonly used influenza antiviral and the mainstay of the federal government's emergency drug stockpile, no longer works for the dominant flu strain circulating in much of the country, government officials said Tuesday.

Of samples tested since October, almost 100% of the strain -- known as type A H1N1 -- showed resistance to Tamiflu.

In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines to physicians in December. Doctors were told to substitute an alternative antiviral, Relenza, for Tamiflu, or to combine Tamiflu with an older antiviral, rimantadine, if the H1N1 virus was the main strain circulating in their communities.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-flu4-2009feb04,0,6558106.story

[SPanara]

1. Nut it up like a real human.

Antivirals are virus-specific and the majority anti -HIV drugs. For influenza, there are amantadine derivatives, which are already obsolete, oseltamavir and Zanamavir. Tamiflu is pretty much useless now, and Relenza will soon join the rest. Pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to develop a drug that will rapidly become obsolete and will never be in great demand unless there is a pandemic.

As far as Tamiflu goes, the biggest buyers are the Japanese and the US government. Even the limited use in America and Japan was enough to cause the H1N1 strain to evolve resistance. The point I'm trying to make is that because of the risk of a pandemic, there should be a greater financial incentive to develop there drugs, and the new ones must be reserved as our ace in the hole should a pandemic break out.


http://www.drugdelivery.ca/s3353-s-TAMIFLU.aspx

[Strong Atheist]

2. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[acmavm]

3. Well, bush** bought around 1.5 billion dollars worth of the stuff

and it was obsolete back then. BUT it sure did help Rumsfeld make a few bucks on the side.

[serrano2008]

4. Don't forget the multiple Billions of $$$ from other countries.

I guess Rumsfeld's payoff from Bush ended now that Bush is out of office.

Anyone who doesn't think the bird flu/Tamiflu scam wasn't just a huge money laundering scheme...well I've got some Tamiflu to sell you.

[TZ]

5. I'm a immunologist

who's company has stocked up in H5N1 vaccines and is working on a universal flu/bird flu vaccine, and let me tell you-bird flu is a threat. Go to Asia sometime and tell people that..I'm sure they'd be real receptive to hearing that there relatives died because of some scam.
Try getting science news from scientific sources. Teh interwebs doesn't count.