State agrees to proposed EU stock of anti-flu drug

The Government has agreed in principle to the establishment of a European stockpile of medication to be used in the event of an outbreak of a flu pandemic.

However, the Irish position is that this should be over and above the stockpiles of antiviral drugs maintained by EU member states.

The Government is also understood to believe further clarification is needed on the logistics, operation and distribution of the stockpile.

EU health ministers meeting in Vienna yesterday agreed that "an options paper" on a European stockpile of drugs and medication for a flu pandemic should be drawn up in time for a further meeting in Luxembourg in June.

The Irish delegation in Vienna was headed by Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney.

It is understood that some member states proposed that a percentage of national stockpiles of the drugs be allocated to a centralised European pool.

Sources indicated that the Irish Government, while agreeing in principle to the concept of a central stockpile, believes a number of issues remain outstanding in relation to its establishment.

Issues the Government believes need to be addressed include who the stockpile would be used for, how it would be financed and who would make the decision on its use, said the sources.

The Government would also want clarification on how the proposed EU stockpile would operate in relation to World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines on preparing for a flu pandemic.

No decisions on the issue were taken by the EU ministers yesterday. The Government has already drawn up wide-ranging plans for dealing with a flu pandemic. The strategy involves stockpiling one million treatment packs of the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

The Department of Health has said this quantity is in accordance with WHO recommendations and would be sufficient to treat 25 per cent of the population. Around 600,000 packs have been delivered and the remainder will arrive later in the year.

The department has said antiviral drugs could shorten the duration of the disease and alleviate symptoms.

It has also made arrangements to procure supplies of a vaccine, currently in development, which could offer some protection against a H5N1 flu strain while a vaccine against the exact pandemic influenza strain was being manufactured.