The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that it was sending more than 2 million treatment courses of antiviral drugs to 72 developing countries to help them prepare for a possible pandemic caused by the spreading A/H1N1 virus.

"We've begun to dispatch 2.4 million treatment courses of antivirals to 72 countries including Mexico," said Michael Ryan, WHO's director for global alert and response.

Those drugs are from stocks donated by Swiss drug maker Roche in 2005 and 2006, Ryan told a news briefing in Geneva.

According to the official, the 72 countries are mostly low- resource and vulnerable countries.

While 2.4 million treatment courses are a small amount for so many countries, "we believe, at this point, it's important that all countries have access to some antivirals in order to treat severe cases should they occur," Ryan stressed.

"We will also supplement our regional stockpiles in the six WHO regions as a contingency for further supplies to countries," he added.

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan is continuing discussions with Roche and other companies to establish how much more antiviral drugs can be identified and transported so that the future needs of developing countries can be best met, Ryan said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2009)