Tamiflu resistance hits Roche

pharmafile | February 1, 2008 | News story | Sales and Marketing  

Sales of the blockbuster flu treatment Tamiflu could receive a setback from new data showing significant resistance to the drug.

A notable 13% of the influenza virus A (H1N1) sampled across Europe was found to be resistant to the Roche's antiviral, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Type A varieties of the virus are the more frequent and cause of major influenza outbreaks. Tamiflu, previously shown to be more effective against the strain, made record sales in recent years as governments bought it in large quantities as defence against a pandemic following scares over avian flu.

On receiving the news David Reddy, responsible for Tamiflu at Roche, told the Financial Times: "This is a very new finding and better understanding is required of its relevance to a pandemic. The vast majority of flu viruses have shown susceptibility to Tamiflu."

The data showed 19 of 148 samples of the virus isolated across 10 countries during November and December 2007 showed evidence of resistance to Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Twelve of the samples that tested positive for resistance came from Norway.

The ECDC, the European Commission, and WHO are currently assessing the significance of the data, which came from the VIRGIL network, and will produce an interim joint assessment on the limited data.

The European Medicines Agency said at this stage it is impossible to say what the level of resistance is in influenza across Europe.

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