Roche employees issued with Tamiflu

More than 5,000 workers at the US offices of pharmaceutical company Roche Holding have been issued with flu medicine Tamiflu.

A total of 5,300 employees received a compulsory tutorial in flu issues and had to see a doctor at work before being given their allocation of the drug, which is designed to treat the symptoms of a flu virus, reports Reuters.

The Swiss-based enterprise stated it is taking the unusual step to arm staff with one of its own medicines in order to protect them in the event of a possible influenza pandemic, which could be caused by the H5N1 strain.

At a seminar meeting to discuss the issue at Roche, head of the firm’s US operations George Abercrombie told the assembled attendees: “If you plan. . .to deal with a pandemic, you have to do it now.”

In addition, the director of the commercial operations group at Roche said that the company would work with a skeleton staff in the event of an outbreak as “we’re not going to want a lot of people on site during a pandemic wave”.

Tamiflu is the trading name of oseltamivir phosphate, which is available from Roche as a general flu treatment and is taken in either capsule form or as a liquid for young children.