Drugs giant Roche accused of sitting on trial data for flu treatment

Doubts remain about efficacy and safety of Tamiflu, stockpiled for use in pandemics

The pharmaceutical giant Roche is being accused of irresponsibly withholding key trial data about a vital flu drug on which governments around the world have spent billions of pounds.

The anti-flu drug Tamiflu has been stockpiled by countries against the outbreak of a flu pandemic since 2004. The UK alone has spent £500m.

Yesterday, the British Medical Journal launched a campaign to persuade Roche to give doctors and patients the full data on Tamiflu, three years after doubts about its safety and efficacy emerged.

In 2009, researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration found that results of eight out of 10 key trials of Tamiflu were never fully published and concluded there was "insufficient data" to show it reduced complications – a vital factor in a pandemic which could save lives.

Roche promised to release the full data, but then reneged on its promise, according to the BMJ. The journal's editor, Fiona Godlee, published an open letter to Sir John Bell, the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and a board member of Roche, in which she appeals to him to use his influence to persuade the company to release the data "for independent scrutiny".

The two trials that have been published, she says, "were funded by Roche and authored by Roche employees and Roche-paid external experts" and "could not be relied on".

More: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-...

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Permalink Reply by Lawrence Edward Calcutt on October 31, 2012 at 2:00pm

Why not simply destroy the stockpiles of the God Damn stuff. A drug made in 2007 or even 2010 would be vertially useless and might even be dangerious to anyone stupid enough to take it. After all, its already paid for and Roach will not have to give back the money to the stupid .... Governments that were tricked, that paid for it.

Here is a posted image that may not solve this drug delema but will surely give you the ..creeps..

I don't want to post this kind of image, but it does me, or anybody, any good stored in my archives waiting for a chance to use it someday. Larry

Permalink Reply by Nathan on October 31, 2012 at 2:08pm

Forget Tamiflu.....get some Sambucol or buy some Black Elderberry extract.

Permalink Reply by Nikki on October 31, 2012 at 2:37pm

A doctor prescribed Tamiflu for me years ago. I probably only had a bad cold or a virus, not the flu. Within minutes of taking it, I had difficulty swallowing it and it started getting worse. I drove myself to the ER and they gave me shot of epinephrine to counteract it. Never even had the chance to see if it was effective or not.

Permalink Reply by chronic_relatavism on November 1, 2012 at 4:14am

Apparently, it was effective. Drummed up business for Tamiflu, and the makers of epinephrine as well as an ER staff. The greatest causes for the medical establishment are the effects for which there apparently no cause for, it's good to be the dispensing king.

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