re: 10% of order relenza, page-3

re: 10% of order relenza "Experts say there will be no stopping the bird flu because there is no cure, an experimental vaccine will help only a little and drugs that can help control it are in scarce supply.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Labor, Health and Human Services subcommittee to discuss the plan. He was accompanied by Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, Dr. Bruce Gellin, who heads the HHS pandemic planning effort, and other aides.

Leavitt said Roche AG, maker of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Relenza, would be able to deliver on promises to make more of the drugs.

"We have vendor representations that they can deliver, as part of our stockpiling effort, 20 million courses by the fourth quarter of 2006 and up to 81 million courses by the summer of 2007," Leavitt told reporters in a telephone briefing.

The 81 million would represent roughly a quarter of the population -- a figure the World Health Organization has suggested as a target for countries to use in preparing for an influenza pandemic."

From an article in Reuters.

I still think the world will want more than both companies can produce.