Denmark adds Glaxo's Relenza to flu drug stockpile

COPENHAGEN, April 29 (Reuters) - Denmark's head of disease prevention said on Wednesday the country planned to buy supplies of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) inhaled antiviral Relenza to complement its existing stockpile of Tamiflu tablets.

Else Smith, Director of the National Centre of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, said stockpiling Relenza was prudent because there was no guarantee that swine flu would respond to Roche's (ROG.VX) Tamiflu in the months ahead.

"The national board of health has recommended to the minister of health that it buys 40,000 treatments of the drug Relenza," she told a news briefing, adding that the minister had agreed to go ahead and buy the medicine.

Governments around the world have built up stockpiles of Tamiflu, and to a lesser extent Relenza, following earlier fears of a pandemic triggered by bird flu.

Both drugs work against the H1N1 strain of swine flu now circulating, but there have been widespread reports of seasonal H1N1 flu becoming resistant to Tamiflu. (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, writing by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Michael Kahn)