Committee on Implementation of Antiviral Medication Strategies for an Influenza Pandemic

Statement of Task

     An IOM committee will plan and convene a workshop of State and local pandemic influenza planners, as well as national and relevant international influenza experts, to consider best practices and policies for implementing a pandemic influenza antiviral drug program. 

• Components of the program to be addressed include treatment of cases, post-exposure prophylaxis for their household contacts, and prophylaxis of "front-line" healthcare workers and emergency service personnel.
• With respect to treatment of cases and post-exposure of their household contacts, key planning issues include but are not limited to determining where drugs dispensed; allocation and distribution of drugs to those sites; diagnostic approach for cases; strategy to enumerate household contacts and assess appropriateness of dispensing drugs for them; potential regulatory barriers to dispensing; and monitoring antiviral drug use and safety. With respect to prophylaxis for targeted healthcare and emergency services personnel, key issues include but are not limited to determining where drugs are dispensed; potential regulatory barriers to dispensing; labor issues that may arise from targeting some workers but not others; and monitoring antiviral drug use and safety.
• The committee will review current State plans, lessons learned from drills and exercises, and will explore the challenges and barriers to rapid and efficient distribution of the drugs for treatment and prophylaxis in the general population and in targeted occupationally defined groups.

The committee will issue a brief report with conclusions and recommendations regarding components of an effective antiviral program for patients and their household contacts and for prophylaxis of healthcare and emergency service personnel.

The final report will be issued in April, 2008

To view the committee names and biographies, click here.

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Meetings

Meeting One took place on December 3-5, 2007. The meeting was open to the public on December 3 & 4. For more infromation, click here.

Meeting Two took place on January 7-8, 2008. The meeting was open to the public on January 7th. For more information, click here.


Quick Links

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The listserv will send 1-3 announcements per month about committee activities for the duration of the project.


Contact Information
Address:
Institute of Medicine
Committee on Antiviral Medication Strategies for an Influenza Pandemic
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
8th Floor
500 5th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Phone: 202/334-1361
Email: FluAntivirals@nas.edu
Fax: 202/334-2939


Please note: Any comments that you submit to the committee, including your name and identifying information, will not be kept confidential and will be included in a Public Access File as the National Academy of Sciences complies with Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The National Academies shall be authorized to use any such comments or submissions in accordance with the National Academies Terms of Use Statement.