Roche wins as UK hikes pandemic flu drug stocks:FT

LONDON (Reuters) - Sales of Roche Holdings AG's (ROG.VX) drug Tamiflu are set to get a boost from British government plans to double its stockpile of antiviral medicines to fight any future flu pandemic, the Financial Times said.

Orders worth hundreds of millions of pounds to buy new drugs and face-masks to help minimise the impact of a pandemic will be announced by the government on Thursday, the paper reported on its Web site.

The decision comes as part of the government's revised pandemic flu plan, which also anticipates the closure of schools during an outbreak.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, editing by Will Waterman)