GSK to benefit from H5N1 flu pandemic contingency plans?

The current epidemic of the highly-pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza, with a mortality rate of 58%, appears relentless in Asia, write Kenneth Tsang of the University of Hong Kong and colleagues from Korea, Malaysia and Singapore in the peer-reviewed British journal The Lancet.

However, they also suggest that UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza (zanamivir) could be a good alternative option for the treatment of avian flu to Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and that governments should consider the GSK product for stockpiling. Both drugs are neuraminidase inhibitors

At the same time as the Lancet article, GSK confirmed that it has received an order from the German government for 1.7 million Relenza treatments, and has also sold the product to France. Additionally, the UK's Financial Times reported Philippines' Health Secretary Francisco Duque as saying that Roche's "monopoly" over Tamiflu was "bordering on the immoral" and suggesting that rival companies should be permitted to make the drug more cheaply.