H1N1 (Swine Flu) Vaccine

[stpvoice]

It's been blown way out of proportion.

 

[miguelkp]

The main cause (in my opinion) of the swine flu: someone needed cash...

Swine flu boosts Roche sales figures

Swiss pharma giant Roche is selling even more of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu than expected, according to third quarter sales figures published Thursday morning. The company expects to rack up 2.7 billion francs this year from flu drug sales, thanks largely to the swine flu pandemic which has provided a temporary boost to company coffers. Analysts say although the results are marginally better than they predicted, the pharma sector overall is not performing well this year.

In a press statement issued Thursday, CEO Severin Schwan said: “The Roche Group continued to perform very strongly in the third quarter. Based on this performance, we expect another very good full-year result.” The pharma division should achieve high single figure sales growth, according to Roche, and analysts have noted that even without Tamiflu revenue growth is chugging along nicely at 6 per cent.

Roche sold 36.4 billion francs worth of drugs in the first 9 months of 2009, an increase of 11 per cent in local currencies on last year.

Sales marginally beat predictions from analysts at RBS in London, who anticipate a slight lift in earnings per share for 2009 thanks to the strong performance of Tamiflu. Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst, Michael Nawrath, said “the results met my expectations, but this was mainly driven by the pandemic sales of the drug Tamiflu”.

The company needs to beat the market; its products are expensive compared with other brands and cash is required to offset debt.

According to a presentation published on its website, Roche said the reasons for accelerated sales growth include anti-cancer medicines, integration with recent acquisition Genentech and new group leadership.

But the real driver of the third quarter figures was Tamiflu, which brought in over 1 billion francs in July, August and September. The company has not achieved close to this level of Tamiflu sales since a previous flu pandemic in 2007. Nawrath told Swisster that the pandemic has given Roche “a good short-term boost”. “It’s a lucky punch again," he said, referring to the 2007 outbreak.

Swine Flu is Sweet Pill for Roche and GSK

Shares in GSK and Roche continue to rocket as their drugs Tamiflu and Relenza are used in the fight against swine flu. Natalie Coomber looks at whether governments are choosing to dig in to their stockpiles and if supplies will hold out.

Tamiflu and Relenza have been catapulted from near-obscurity to become two of today's most infamous drug brands thanks to the recent swine flu outbreak that is becoming a growing concern the world over.

In the last 24 hours alone tourists have been warned not to set foot on Mexican soil, the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its alert level from 3 to 4 – signifying that the virus can cause community-level outbreaks – and cases have been confirmed in the UK and Israel. It has become clear that containment of the swine flu outbreak is no longer feasible.

The 149 deaths in Mexico are suspected to be the result of the potent combination of the avarian, swine and human flu viruses, although only 20 of these have been confirmed.

Combined with the illness's increasingly frequent appearance around the world, this is enough to send shivers down the spines of many. But for GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza and Roche's Tamiflu the outbreak could not hold more potential.

 

[descalzo]

The main cause (in my opinion) of the swine flu: someone needed cash...

growth, according to Roche, and analysts have noted that even without Tamiflu revenue growth is chugging along nicely at 6 per cent.

Roche sold 36.4 billion francs worth of drugs in the first 9 months of 2009, an increase of 11 per cent in local currencies on last year.

.....

But the real driver of the third quarter figures was Tamiflu, which brought in over 1 billion francs in July, August and September

So, Tamiflu was about 8% of their sales and accounted for a 5% increase in revenue. Not a bad short term boost.

Epidemiologists are caught in a bind.
On one hand, they can become the "boy who cried wolf". Eventually nobody will believe the warnings.
On the other hand, there is a real posibility of a pandemic. Maybe not this year or next. But with the mobility of the population, a virulent strain that would die out in an isolated town/village has the potential to spread world wide in a very short time.

 

[miguelkp]

On one hand, they can become the "boy who cried wolf". Eventually nobody will believe the warnings.

Yes, 'they' are playing with fire I think.

On the other hand, there is a real posibility of a pandemic. Maybe not this year or next. But with the mobility of the population, a virulent strain that would die out in an isolated town/village has the potential to spread world wide in a very short time.

And yes again. But we should wait for the end of the traditional flu season and compare statistics. All I know for the time being is that common flu (on both relative and absolute terms) kills much more people than swine flu does.
Although it can be a deceitful statistic, we can't ingnore it, I supose.

 

[ifusion]

This is a terrible virus and it is spreading throughout my school, I believe it is best to get the vaccine rather than dealing with being sick. I trust that the people that have released the vaccine are 100% positive it is safe.

 

[wolflock]

Do people really take these things seriously?

 

[zeppfrog]

I have to look out for my family, so I went to the CDC site to get the scoop on H1N1. The impression I took away from there was HYPE. There is nothing else to talk about in the media with Bush gone and the election over, Obama refrains from putting his foot in his mouth. So we have PANDEMIC.

BUT? The CDC says the rates of infection, mortality, etc etc are parallel to your normal average annual case of inflenza. The same as that, those most at risk already have pulmonary problems, such as lung disease, very bad athsma, copd, etc etc.

Look it up, read the numbers yourself then decide, is this the plague of the 21st century, or are the media reporters taking us for a ride?


BY THE WAY,
the vaccinie takes 2 weeks to go to work in your body, so if you plan to wait until everyone else has it before you get a shot... forget it. too late.