Can our stockpiles of Tamiflu protect against a bird flu pandemic?

Enlarge / A box and a tablet of Roche Pharmaceuticals’ Tamiflu pills for influenza. (credit: Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Since reports emerged earlier this year that dairy cows across the country had been infected with H5N1 bird flu, the prospect that the virus could evolve to spark another pandemic has stoked serious concern.

But unlike COVID-19, the flu is an old, well-known foe. And health authorities have reassured the public that the US has squirreled away millions of doses of the flu medication oseltamivir, known under the brand name Tamiflu. As health policy expert Leana S. Wen wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece, the drug “works against seasonal flu and is expected to work well against H5N1.”

While oseltamivir may help in cases of severe flu, some experts are concerned that the US is banking far too much on a so-so drug while failing to prioritize research on new treatments.