On July 7, 2009, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced the winner of the bid for the procurement of 0.9 million treatment courses of Relenza.GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is the winner of the bid and is required to supply 0.2 million treatment courses of Relenza to the government by the end of August, 2009 and 0.7 million treatment courses of Relenza by the end of November, 2009 according to the contract awarded to GSK.

When the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) outbreak began in the end of April this year, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) immediately recognized the need to procure additional treatment courses of antiviral drugs for influenza as a response to the outbreak.After actively contacting pharmaceutical companies concerning the procurement, CECC decided to purchase additional 0.9 million treatment courses of Relenza. The first bidding process for the procurement was opened on June 30, 2009.However, the bid was not awarded due to the huge price difference.The second bidding process was promptly organized and opened on July 6, 2009.After several price negotiations, GSK was awarded a $664 million contract to supply 0.9 million treatment courses of Relenza to the government. The contract will be recently signed.

President of the Executive Yuan Liu instructed the activation of $3 billion from the Second Reserve Fund as a response for the future outbreak.The funding for the procurement of 0.9 million treatment courses of Relenza comes from the aforementioned budget.

Thus far, three cases of Tamiflu-resistant pandemic influenza A (H1N1) have been reported globally. One case is a Danish patient who was a close contact of a confirmed case and was given Tamiflu as antiviral prophylaxis for five days before developing influenza-like symptoms.The patient was later confirmed to have been infected with the Tamiflu-resistant virus.The other case is a Japanese patient who was also a close contact of a confirmed case and was given Tamiflu as antiviral prophylaxis for seven days prior to developing fever.The aforementioned two cases have fully recovered from their disease after they were given Relenza.On July 3, 2009, another case of Tamiflu-resistant pandemic influenza A (H1N1) was confirmed in a case in Hong Kong.

Although these cases of Tamiflu resistance in pandemic influenza A (H1N1) remain sporadic, widespread cases of such resistance is possible.Hence, the procurement of Relenza is essential.According to CECC, Taiwan CDC will continue to monitor antiviral resistance.As a part of the pandemic preparedness plan, Taiwan CDC finalized the procurement of 0.9 million treatment courses of Relenza.