By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - George Abercrombie, chief executive officer of drug maker Hoffman-La Roche, finds himself doing something very unusual these days -- lobbying companies to buy and stockpile his company's pills for their employees.

Drug companies usually focus their efforts on sending sales representatives to doctors' offices, but the threat of a bird flu pandemic has forced governments and companies to think about public health in ways they never did before.

And it has created an unusual business opportunity for Hoffman-La Roche Inc. -- the U.S. prescription drug unit of Switzerland's Roche Holding AG <ROG.VX>. Roche makes Tamiflu, the No. 1 drug of choice for treating and preventing bird flu.

"It is the first time I have ever engaged a business in a dialogue over a prescription medicine," Abercrombie, who trained as a pharmacist, told Reuters in an interview in Washington.

Companies are beginning to plan for a possible pandemic of bird flu, and some are buying stocks of Tamiflu for their employees in hopes of keeping them well and their businesses running if a pandemic strikes.

Abercrombie said 350 U.S. companies had bought Tamiflu, and 43 million treatment courses, generally 10 pills each, had been sold to U.S. states and the federal government.

The U.S. federal government aims to eventually stockpile 81 million treatment courses -- enough for a quarter of the U.S. population.

Abercrombie said Roche has the global capacity to make 400 million courses a year.

"Now is the time to order because it takes 6 to 9 months to make a batch of Tamiflu. It is a very complex process," he said.

Health experts agree that a pandemic of something is inevitable. They cannot specify the disease, but the H5N1 avian flu virus currently wiping out flocks from Indonesia to Africa and parts of Europe is the main suspect.

It rarely infects people but has killed 192 out of 318 people sickened since 2003.

"The threat of a pandemic is as real as ever," Abercrombie said. "Companies realize that they have to put a corporate plan together."

Most planning is good generic preparation for any disaster -- how to continue business if employees are absent, if supplies cannot be delivered, if communications go down.

But much must also be specific to a flu pandemic, and Roche is pushing hard to encourage companies to take charge of their employees' health in a way they never have before, by stocking prescription drugs -- in particular Tamiflu.

BIG NEW MARKET

Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, was having lackluster sales as a drug to prevent and treat seasonal flu. But it was the first drug to show real efficacy in helping people with H5N1 and is now given to anyone diagnosed.

"The seasonal business doesn't put a dent into the quantities required (for a pandemic)," Abercrombie said.

Studies show the sooner someone takes it, the better, and Roche has given a supply of Tamiflu to all its U.S. employees.

They first were seen by three contracted doctors. Every employee had to pass a computer-administered exam so they would understand when it would be appropriate to take the drug -- only when a pandemic has occurred, is in the community and as soon as symptoms such as a sudden fever hit.

In the United States, many companies provide health insurance to employees, so it will be up to businesses to protect their workers when a pandemic hits, Abercrombie said.

"I am speaking around the country. I am meeting with CEOs and executives from the top five companies in various sectors," Abercrombie said.

"The spectrum runs from 'we know it is a threat but we haven't had time to plan' to companies that have full blown plans and have begun to stock Tamiflu."

"What keeps me awake at night ... for Roche, we will be in the bullseye. People will want Tamiflu and we will not be able to make it fast enough."

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