Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

The province that experienced an acute outbreak of swine flu on its northern reserves is making it easier for aboriginals and other vulnerable patients to get free antiviral drugs in a bid to lessen the impact of the virus come fall.
Manitoba has set out who can get Tamiflu more quickly under its pharmacare program. The groups include aboriginals, those with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women, smokers and the obese. The homeless and those !–more– with immune deficiencies, including cancer patients, will also get priority.
The changes, which will make it easier for doctors to prescribe Tamiflu quickly, were set out in a regulation that takes effect Aug. 18. People who don’t meet the medical criteria can still buy a prescription for Tamiflu but it may not be covered by the province.
Under the old system, doctors had to justify each prescription which involved phone calls, faxes and paperwork.
Provincial Health Minister Theresa Oswald said her government wants to make sure that those who need the antivirals get them quickly.

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A senior Manitoba Health official said its stockpile of H1N1 antiviral drugs was made available to Health Canada for distribution among the province’s First Nation communities.
Terry Goertzen, an assistant deputy minister of health, said Ottawa did not request from Manitoba more than the 45 courses, or 450 doses, of Tamiflu it was given in mid-May to deal with an H1N1 outbreak on reserves.
When it comes to health care on First Nation communities, !–more– (Ottawa) takes the lead, Goertzen said, adding no special requests for additional antiviral drugs were made to deal with the outbreak in the Island Lake communities.
Chiefs from Garden Hill and St. Theresa Point are demanding to know why their communities received next to no antiviral drugs when the northwestern Ontario First Nation of Sandy Lake was given 1,800 doses to control an H1N1 outbreak there.

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The race to create a vaccine for the H1N1 flu virus could place the public at a greater risk than the illness the vaccine is designed to prevent, says a University of Manitoba ethicist.
Arthur Schafer, director of the U of M’s Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, said it appears a vaccine will be rushed to the public before it can be determined properly that it’s safe – or if it even works.
Schafer said the scientific research shows the !–more– effectiveness of seasonal flu vaccines in the past has been marginal. The effectiveness of antiviral drugs, designed to mitigate the effects of flu, is equally unimpressive, and research shows the drugs can have dangerous side effects, he added.
Good ethics requires good facts, and the ethical debate so far has been who should be the first (to get the vaccine) and there has been virtually no discussion of the safety and effectiveness of the drug, he said.

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Canadians will have a better chance of getting vaccinated against the pandemic influenza than people in many other countries, including the United States and Britain, thanks to nearly a decade of planning for the disease’s arrival.
#8220;We’re actually in a fairly unique position of having domestic capacity, of having planned for that in Canada now for many years,#8221; David Butler-Jones, Canada’s chief public health officer, said in an interview !–more– with The Globe and Mail Thursday.
In 2001, the federal government began a 10-year agreement with a drug company that was eventually sold to GlaxoSmithKline. That contract obligates the giant pharmaceutical manufacturer to provide vaccine to every Canadian who wants it in the event of a pandemic.
Canada was the first country in the world to sign such an agreement, and, in exchange, it has given the company money to expand the capacity of its plant at Ste-Foy, Que.
#8220;Three or four years ago, we could fill about eight million doses a month,#8221; said Dr. Butler-Jones. #8220;Now it’s up closer to 14 million. So, within a couple of months, we have enough vaccine essentially for everybody living in Canada to get at least one dose, which would probably be sufficient for most of us.#8221;

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Health authorities in Canada and the United States are on high alert for Internet scams related to swine flu and are cracking down on websites that are selling unauthorized products and making illegal claims about how to prevent and treat the illness.
Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are tracking the websites and have issued dozens of warning letters to force the removal of offensive claims.
Among the products that have !–more– popped up online are: a pill that is purported to cure a swine-flu infection within hours; a spray that claimed to leave a layer of ionic silver on the skin that would kill the virus; fake test kits; a shampoo; nasal sprays; wall-mounted ultraviolet light machines that allegedly prevent the spread and destroy the virus; and an electronic instrument that declared its photobionic energy and deeply penetrating mega-frequency life-force energy waveswould strengthen the immune system and prevent infection. The machine costs thousands of dollars.

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Health officials in Hong Kong reported Friday a single instance in which a strain of the swine flu was found to be resistant to Tamiflu, the main antiviral drug used to treat the virus.
The case involved a 16-year-old girl who came from the United States in mid-June, had mild symptoms, and was eventually discharged.
The current strain of H1N1 influenza A virus has been circulating in several countries since it first appeared in Mexico in April.
!–more– The Tamiflu-resistant strain in Hong Kong was found during routine sensitivity testing of the swine flu virus to both oseltamivir and zanamivir, the Hong Kong Department of Health said in a statement on its website.
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are the two antiviral drugs that appear to be effective in treating the H1N1 virus, Health Canada says.

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Canada’s chief public health officer expressed deep concern about a swine influenza outbreak gripping Mexico and the southwestern United States as health officials around the world went on high alert for a potential global flu pandemic.
“This is very concerning, clearly. That’s why we’re all paying attention,” David Butler-Jones said yesterday. “What it will lead to is impossible to predict.”
Mexico shut down schools, museums and libraries in (more…)