Tamiflu: Millions wasted on flu drug, claims major report
Hundreds of millions of pounds may have been wasted on a drug for flu that works no better than paracetamol, a landmark analysis has said.
The UK has spent £473m on Tamiflu, which is stockpiled by governments globally to prepare for flu pandemics.
The Cochrane Collaboration claimed the drug did not prevent the spread of flu or reduce dangerous complications, and only slightly helped symptoms.
The manufacturers Roche and other experts say the analysis is flawed.
The antiviral drug Tamiflu was stockpiled from 2006 in the UK when some agencies were predicting that a pandemic of bird flu could kill up to 750,000 people in Britain. Similar decisions were made in other countries.
Hidden data
The drug was widely prescribed during the swine flu outbreak in 2009.
Drug companies do not publish all their research data. This report is the result of a colossal fight for the previously hidden data into the effectiveness and side-effects of Tamiflu.
It concluded that the drug reduced the persistence of flu symptoms from seven days to 6.3 days in adults and to 5.8 days in children. But the report's authors said drugs such as paracetamol could have a similar impact.
On claims that the drug prevented complications such as pneumonia developing, Cochrane suggested the trials were so poor there was "no visible effect".
Another justification for stockpiling was to slow the spread of the disease to give time for a vaccine to be developed. The report's authors said "the case for this is simply unproven" and "there is no credible way these drugs could prevent a pandemic".
It also claimed that the drug had a number of side-effects, including nausea, headaches, psychiatric events, kidney problems and hyperglycaemia.
Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford and one of the report's authors, told the BBC: "I think the whole £500m has not benefited human health in any way and we may have harmed people.
"The system that exists for producing evidence on drugs is so flawed and open to misuse that the public has been misled."
Dr Tom Jefferson, a clinical epidemiologist and former GP, said: "I wouldn't give it for symptom relief, I'd give paracetamol."
The Cochrane Collaboration researchers have not placed the blame on any individual or organisation, instead saying there had been failings at every step from the manufacturers to the regulators and government.
'Wrong statistics'
The pharmaceutical company Roche said "we disagree with the overall conclusions" and warned they could "potentially have serious public health implications".
He said the Cochrane group had used the wrong statistics, which "systematically underestimate the benefits" of the drug, and used "unorthodox" methods to analyse the side-effects.
Prof Wendy Barclay, who researches the influenza virus at Imperial College London, said reducing symptoms in children by 29 hours would be "pretty beneficial".
The World Health Organization, which classes Tamiflu as an essential medicine, said: "We welcome a new and rigorous analysis of available data, and look forward to consideration of its findings after it appears.
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Tamiflu: Millions wasted on flu drug, claims major reportHundreds of millions of pounds may have been wasted on a drug for flu that works no better than paracetamol, a landmark analysis has said.The UK has spent £473m on Tamiflu, which is stockpiled by governments globally to prepare for flu pandemics.The Cochrane Collaboration claimed the drug did not prevent the spread of flu or reduce dangerous complications, and only slightly helped symptoms.The manufacturers Roche and other experts say the analysis is flawed.The antiviral drug Tamiflu was stockpiled from 2006 in the UK when some agencies were predicting that a pandemic of bird flu could kill up to 750,000 people in Britain. Similar decisions were made in other countries.Hidden dataThe drug was widely prescribed during the swine flu outbreak in 2009.Drug companies do not publish all their research data. This report is the result of a colossal fight for the previously hidden data into the effectiveness and side-effects of Tamiflu.It concluded that the drug reduced the persistence of flu symptoms from seven days to 6.3 days in adults and to 5.8 days in children. But the report's authors said drugs such as paracetamol could have a similar impact.On claims that the drug prevented complications such as pneumonia developing, Cochrane suggested the trials were so poor there was "no visible effect".وكان مبررا آخر لتخزين إبطاء انتشار المرض إلى إعطاء الوقت الكافي لقاح أن البلدان المتقدمة النمو. وقال واضعي التقرير "حالة لهذا ببساطة غير مثبتة" و "هناك لا طريقة ذات مصداقية هذه العقاقير يمكن أن يمنع حدوث جائحة".وادعت أيضا أن المخدرات له عدد من الآثار الجانبية، بما في ذلك الغثيان والصداع، والأحداث النفسية، ومشاكل في الكلي وفرط سكر الدم.نحو كارل، Professor of Evidence-Based الطب في جامعة أوكسفورد واحد واضعي التقرير، بي بي سي: "أعتقد أن لم يستفد m جنيه استرليني 500 أسرة صحة الإنسان بأي شكل من الأشكال، ونحن قد أضر بالناس."النظام القائم لتقديم أدلة على المخدرات معيبة جداً ومفتوحة لإساءة استخدام أنه قد تم تضليل الجمهور".الدكتور توم جيفرسون، علم الأوبئة السريرية والسابق سباق الجائزة الكبرى، وقال: "لن تعطيه لتخفيف الأعراض، وأود أن يعطي الباراسيتامول."لم يضع الباحثون "تعاونية كوكرين" اللائمة على أي فرد أو منظمة، بدلاً من ذلك قائلا أنه كانت هناك إخفاقات في كل خطوة من المصنعين للمنظمين والحكومة. 'إحصاءات خاطئة'وقال "أننا نختلف مع الاستنتاجات العامة" شركة روش للأدوية وحذر يمكن "يحتمل أن تكون لها آثار خطيرة في مجال الصحة العامة".وقال قد استخدمت مجموعة كوكرين للإحصاءات خاطئة، التي "بشكل منتظم يقلل من الفوائد" المخدرات، والأساليب "غير تقليدية" المستخدمة لتحليل الآثار الجانبية.وقال زين ويندي باركلي، الذين الأبحاث فيروس الإنفلونزا في "امبريال كوليدج لندن"، الحد من الأعراض في الأطفال من 29 ساعة ستكون "مفيدة جداً".منظمة الصحة العالمية، وفصول تاميفلو كأدوية أساسية، وقال: "أننا نرحب بإجراء تحليل جديد ودقيق للبيانات المتاحة، ونتطلع إلى النظر في الاستنتاجات التي توصل إليها بعد ذلك يظهر.
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