Hope You Stocked Up on Tamiflu!
Better hope some Mexican tourist doesn't cough on you while you're walking in Midtown this afternoon. Pharmacists report that that there's been a run on Tamiflu this week (along with face masks, hand sanitizers, and pretty much everything else you could possibly use to stop from getting the virus). And despite assurances from public health officials that large supplies of the drug are available, we hear from one doctor that pharmacies can't even place orders for the quantities of Tamiflu that they need to fulfill their customers' orders.
One pharmacy that put in a request for 20 boxes earlier this week ended up with two cartons instead. A little bit easier to find is Relenza, which has also been proven effective in cases of swine flu, but is a little bit more complicated to take since it's an inhalable drug.
Of course, the best course is to not buy into the fear in the first place. Better yet, if you're convinced that dumb people will continue this craziness for weeks to come, you can try and profit from the madness and buy shares of GlaxoSmithKline and Roche, the companies that manufacture Tamiflu and Relenza.
