# 558
Roche Pharmaceuticals, the makers of one of the few antivirals known to be somewhat effective against Avian Flu, announced today they have distributed Tamiflu to all 5,300 employees in the United States.
Some may view the timing of this with a bit of concern, wondering why today? Why not last week? Or three months from now? Is there something special about today?
My suspicion is that the reasons are twofold. First, the incessant drumbeat of a possible pandemic continues unabated, and handing out antivirals to employees and their families is simply good for employee/employer relations. Employees need not fear that their supply will be somehow diverted in a crisis.
And second, Roche would like to set an example for other companies to follow.
Roche has urged corporate entities to buy Tamiflu in bulk for their employees as a way to ensure business continuity in a pandemic. It would be hard to sell that concept if Roche hadn't already done that with their own employees.
So while I find this newsworthy, I'm not looking at it as a sign that anything imminent is about to happen.
Roche gives workers flu drug in case of pandemic
By Lewis Krauskopf
NUTLEY, N.J., March 8 (Reuters) - All 5,300 U.S. employees of Swiss drug-maker Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) have been issued supplies of its flu drug Tamiflu to weather a possible influenza pandemic, the company said on Thursday.
Roche's U.S. employees had on-site doctor appointments and a mandatory online influenza tutorial before being given the prescription antiviral drug.
"We don't know who may get sick, who may not get sick, so we thought it was important to protect all our employees," said Mike McGuire, Roche's vice president for anti-infectives.
Whether to provide antivirals to employees was one issue companies wrestled with on Thursday at a six-hour seminar on corporate preparedness for a potential influenza pandemic.
The meeting, held at Roche operations in Nutley, New Jersey, comes as experts almost universally agree that the world is ripe for a pandemic of some infectious disease. The H5N1 avian influenza virus, which has infected 277 people since 2003 and killed 168 of them, is considered the leading candidate to cause one.
The U.S. government has urged employers to develop plans to cope with a possible pandemic.
"If you plan on planning to deal with a pandemic, you have to do it now," George Abercrombie, the head of Roche's U.S. operations, told the audience, made up largely of Roche's vendors, business partners and other health-care companies.
