This may be due to the fact that no doctors in hospital emergency departments, let alone private practice, have any clue what these government recommendations are, making them fairly useless.
They also have never/barely heard of Relenza - thank god 90% of the sales are through pandemic protection orders.
Doctors may give you tamiflu now, just like some of them give antibiotics when you come in with a viral respiratory infection "just in case" - usually this is to make you, the "customer" (or "client", which is the new name for "patient" in the private system) feel better that you are getting a pill.
Many people get angry if the doctor doesn't give them a drug (they feel they aren't getting proper treatment). Some doctors appease you by giving it to you because "it won't do any harm" - but it just leads to improper use and resistance. I like the idea of one of my colleagues - when they recommended lifestyle modifications (eg. exercise) they write it on a script so it feels like an "official" order!
Moral of the story - ignore private sales of Relenza because Tamiflu is not going to be touched in the near future - it allows children to be dosed (unlike relenza), people prefer tablets over inhalations, and most importantly people have heard of Tamiflu (both doctors and patients) and so that's what they want/get.
The governments however MUST follow these recommendations and will increase the number and or percentage of Relenza in stockpiles, which is what counts. Maybe if GSK decided to, oh I don't know, spend a single fucking dollar marketing Relenza, health professionals would know what it was.
BTA Price at posting:
$1.42 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
