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Layaway Plan For Flu Vaccine Offered

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The Associated Press

Published: June 27, 2008

WASHINGTON - Fears of bird flu are receding, and sales of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu have slumped. Now its maker is offering a deal to U.S. employers: Pay an annual fee and reserve enough to protect every worker if a new superflu strikes.

The plan announced Thursday comes as the federal government also begins a new effort to encourage many businesses to stockpile anti-flu drugs in case of a pandemic. Those private stockpiles would supplement a national stockpile that contains enough doses to treat only a fraction of the population.

But stockpiling is a big upfront investment for a threat that may never arrive - and requires replacing supplies whenever drug doses expire. Roche Holding AG says its new plan would remove some of those barriers for companies otherwise interested in Tamiflu.

Under the new program, companies can reserve Tamiflu instead of buying and storing it themselves. They would pay a yearly fee of $6 for every 10 capsules to be set aside in Roche storage and delivered within 48 hours of demand.

Upon delivery, companies would pay the going wholesale price, currently $74 per 10-pack. Why 10 capsules? That's the dose to treat a single ill person.

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