ANTIVIRAL drugs produced in Scotland to treat a potential human flu pandemic are being sold to France, Germany and America while Scotland faces a shortage. A Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK)plant near Montrose is shipping huge amounts of Relenza, an inhaler treatment, abroad to fill foreign government contracts.
However Scotland has less than half the quantity of antiviral drugs it would need in the event of a pandemic.
The Scottish executive and the UK government have refused to buy drugs from the Angus plant. They have instead signed a deal with Roche, the drug company that produces a rival drug, Tamiflu, at its factory in Switzerland.
Only 615,000 doses of Tamiflu have been stockpiled, less than half the recommended amount needed to treat the one in four members of the population whom, it is predicted, would fall victim to the virus.
Tamiflu and Relenza are equally effective in treating flu symptoms. The Scottish executive opted to use Tamiflu, the cheaper option, despite a report by the Scottish parliament’s healthcare committee six years ago saying both drugs should be part of its strategy.
Opposition politicians said it was ironic that a drug manufactured in Scotland was going abroad while this country was facing a shortage. “If there is a Scottish plant producing effective drugs then it would be sensible to factor that in,” said Nicola Sturgeon, the deputy leader of the SNP.
Bill Aitken, chief whip for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “It seems bizarre to say the least that a company in Scotland which, on the face of it, can provide exactly the same medicine is not being allowed to do so.
“Clearly, there may be a slight difference in cost, but I would have thought that with a medicine being manufactured in Montrose we would have greater control over the availability.
“I think the Scottish executive has to look at this much more carefully and if necessary review the position in order that the work can remain in Scotland.”
Alex Johnstone, the Conservative MSP for northeast Scotland, also called for a review of the decision, adding: “It is crazy that the government has made this decision to buy Tamiflu. What an opportunity this was to have an effective treatment — and safeguard jobs in this country. The government must consider its position over this. This definitely makes me very unhappy.
“The way these decisions are made is rarely open to the public and in this case it should be.
“In this case, politicians should demand a revision and a review in light of our experience of what has been going on.”
Neil McCrae, of GSK, said the company had passed information about the product to the Scottish executive and the UK government and it was “now up to them”.
“Political arguments are for politicians, but the demand from abroad has been unprecedented and we are supplying many customers, including the governments of France, Germany and America,” he said.
France has received 1.7m courses of treatment and America has ordered 1.4m.
The fear of a pandemic in Scotland was heightened two weeks ago with the discovery at Cellardyke, Fife, of a dead swan that had been infected with the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus.
Relieved health officials confirmed no other cases had been found.
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