From the UK Guardian :
Some of Britain's top scientists yesterday accused the government of failing to listen to expert advice in its preparations for a flu pandemic and of stockpiling a single drug, which might not work, to treat the population.Go Here To Read The Full StoryOver 14m doses of the drug, Tamiflu, have been delivered, but two leading scientific institutions, the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, say the government should be buying similar quantities of a second drug, Relenza, as well.
Reports from south-east Asia suggest that in a few cases Tamiflu has not been effective because the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has proved lethal to humans, has developed resistance to the drug.
The order of 14.6m courses of Tamiflu was completed in September and is intended to be enough to treat 25% of the population. But even if Tamiflu works against H5N1, it may need to be given in larger doses than originally intended and there will be no time to manufacture more between waves of the pandemic, so the stockpiles of both Tamiflu and Relenza may need to be larger than at present, the report says.
Tamiflu attracted further controversy last week when it was linked to suicidal feelings among some young people.
A 10-month review by the US drug regulation body, the food and drug administration, identified 103 incidents where young people on the drug had demonstrated disturbed behaviour, including a 17-year-old youth who jumped in front of a truck and a 14-year-old boy who died when he fell after climbing on a balcony railing.
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