California buys anti-virals

State to stockpile bird flu treatment

California is purchasing over 3.7 million treatments of anti-viral drugs to treat a human form of avian influenza in the event of a pandemic.

The state's budget, passed June 30, allocated $53.3 million to stockpile drugs officials said are needed to protect against a potentially deadly outbreak of bird flu.

The money will cover the state's share of Tamiflu and Relenza -- the two common treatments for the H5N1 virus -- according to Dr. Howard Backer, chief of the California Department of Health Services' immunization branch. Tamiflu will account for 90 percent of the drugs used to combat the spread of bird flu in California.

Under a plan proposed last fall, the federal government will pay 25 percent of the cost of the treatments, with states covering 75 percent.

The state's planned supply is separate from a national stockpile the federal government is purchasing and will also make available to states.

Backer said an outbreak of influenza is a real possibility.

"There's no way to tell when a pandemic would happen," Backer said. "The important thing is pandemics happen naturally and regularly. Like the earthquake, we know it'll happen. We just don't know when."

California's money will buy enough of the anti-viral drugs to treat at least 10 percent of the population. The state will then tap into the separate federal supply to reach its goal of covering 25 percent of the state's residents.

More than a third of the treatments purchased with the state money will be set aside for Los Angeles County, the state's most populous area.

The state and federal government should have enough of the anti-viral drugs by December 2008 to treat a quarter of the nation's population, according to health officials. That's how many people may be affected in a pandemic.

Each Tamiflu treatment consists of 10 doses in capsule or powder form taken over five days, Backer said. Relenza is inhaled.

Neither drug is a vaccine, but both are used to treat and limit the spread of influenza. A vaccine is not produced until after a virus is spread so that the specific virus can be targeted, Backer said.

Backer said that individuals should take standard emergency preparedness measures including storing food, medications and hand sanitizers.

Backer, who helped create the state's flu pandemic plan, said the state is working with businesses, schools and organizations to prepare.

The state's Tamiflu will be supplied by Roche Laboratories, Inc. On Friday, the federal government announced a deal with Roche to purchase 31 million treatments of Tamiflu over two years. This supply will be redistributed to individual states.

While there is today no increase in danger of a pandemic, California's plan to be ready by December 2008 appears distant, said Dr. Christian Sandrock, an infectious disease physician at UC Davis Medical Center.

But "reasonably it's about the best you can do," he said.

California will order the drugs by Aug. 1, the deadline federal officials set for states to report how much of the drugs they plan to buy. But it's unclear when the companies can deliver the drugs.

A shortage of a star anise found in China used to make Tamiflu is a factor in setting the December 2008 target date, Sandrock said. Also slowing the plan is Roche being the only company producing the drug, though it has begun to contract out the production.

Worldwide, 130 people have died of avian influenza since the first human case was documented in 1997, according to a federal report released last week.

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• The Bee's Tomio Geron can be reached at (916) 321-1041