The Philippines Department of Health (DoH)
and United Laboratories Inc (Unilab) have entered
into a memorandum of agreement through which the drug company will provide 1.25 million dollars worth of oseltamivir or Tamiflu for free.
Unilab’s donation
of the drug will be enough to treat about 50,000 people. It will shoulder all
costs and expenses related the procurement, importation of the raw materials
and packaging, as well as the manufacture of the drug. The DoH
will distribute Tamiflu to government health workers,
agricultural workers and any other sectors that may need the drug in case of an
outbreak. Unilab is also planning free distribution
of its Enervon vitamins to strengthen an estimated
105,000 poultry workers who are most at risk of contracting the bird flu virus.
Unilab has shown
readiness to manufacture the drug on a non-profit basis and its officials have
already visited