Down1
10th April 2014, 06:31 AM
- Researchers who have fought for years to get full data on Roche's flu medicine Tamiflu said on Thursday that governments who stockpile it are wasting billions of dollars on a drug whose effectiveness is in doubt.
In a review of trial data on Tamiflu, and on GlaxoSmithKline's flu drug Relenza, scientists from the respected research network the Cochrane Review said that while the medicines can shorten flu symptoms by around half a day, there is no good evidence behind claims they cut hospital admissions or lessen complications of the disease.
"There is no credible way these drugs could prevent a pandemic," said Carl Heneghan, one of the lead investigators of the review and a professor of evidence-based medicine at Britain's Oxford University.
The review's main findings were that the medicines had few if any beneficial effects, but did have adverse side effects that were previously dismissed or overlooked.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/health-roche-hldg-tamiflu-idUSL6N0N224B20140410
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/health-roche-hldg-tamiflu-idUSL6N0N224B20140410
In a review of trial data on Tamiflu, and on GlaxoSmithKline's flu drug Relenza, scientists from the respected research network the Cochrane Review said that while the medicines can shorten flu symptoms by around half a day, there is no good evidence behind claims they cut hospital admissions or lessen complications of the disease.
"There is no credible way these drugs could prevent a pandemic," said Carl Heneghan, one of the lead investigators of the review and a professor of evidence-based medicine at Britain's Oxford University.
The review's main findings were that the medicines had few if any beneficial effects, but did have adverse side effects that were previously dismissed or overlooked.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/health-roche-hldg-tamiflu-idUSL6N0N224B20140410
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/health-roche-hldg-tamiflu-idUSL6N0N224B20140410