No Evidence Tamiflu Can Actually Stop the Flu

November 14th, 2012

Yeah, but it’s effective for giving children nausea, insomnia and nightmares.

Via: AP:

A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.

The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche.

“I suggest we boycott Roche’s products until they publish missing Tamiflu data,” wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was “needlessly” spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.

Last year, Tamiflu was included in a list of “essential medicines” by the World Health Organization, a list that often prompts governments or donor agencies to buy the drug.

Research Credit: Rosa Nutkana

One Response to “No Evidence Tamiflu Can Actually Stop the Flu”

  1. tal says:

    Note the date of this hearing:

    Why are certain drugs having their safety reports presented to the Pediatric Advisory Committee on November 18, 2005?

    The review of the adverse event reports for Tamiflu will discuss pediatric deaths, serious skin reactions, and neuropsychiatric events. These events were reported almost entirely in children from Japan.

    http://www.fda.gov/drugs/drugsafety/postmarketdrugsafetyinformationforpatientsandproviders/ucm107840.htm

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