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Minnesota May Hold Back On Buying Bird Flu Drugs

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Oct 8, 2008 3:17 pm US/Central

Minnesota May Hold Back On Buying Bird Flu Drugs

ST. PAUL (AP) ― Minnesota may hold back on buying its full allotment of medication as it prepares for a possible bird flu epidemic.

The state has stockpiled about 85 percent of the antiviral medication it's entitled to buy from drug companies. But health officials might not purchase the rest. The drug has a shelf life of 7 years.

Aggie Leitheiser is director of emergency preparedness at the Minnesota Department of Health. She says her agency is trying to balance its preparation goals with the possibility that the drugs might go to waste if an avian influenza pandemic does not materialize.

The state has already spent more than $4 million on antiviral drugs. Leitheiser says her agency is exploring whether state money might be better spent on other pandemic supplies such as respirator masks.

 

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