Questions raised over Tamiflu

Questions have been raised over the effectiveness of anti-influenza drug Tamiflu, after reports that pharmaceutical producers Roche has refused to release key data on the drug for independent scrutiny.

The Cochrane Collaboration has released a statement saying that the refusal of Roche to provide full access to data leaves serious question marks over how well the drug actually works.

The international non-profit organisation set out to test the claim by the pharmaceutical giant that Tamiflu prevented complications and reduced the number of people needing hospital treatment. However, Roche's refusal to provide all the trial data for analysis meant the investigation could not be fully completed.

World Health Organization researchers in Australia have recently reported an increase in the number of seasonal influenza cases resistant to Tamiflu, which is the most commonly used antiviral drug and is on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines.

Dr Fiona Godlee, BMJ editor-in-chief commented:"The discrepancies between the conclusions reached by different regulators around the world highlights the absurd situation we find ourselves in. In a globalised world, regulators should cooperate and pool their limited resources. Otherwise we will continue to waste money and risk people's health on drugs that don't work."

Posted by Fiona Griffiths