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| UK Government Spent £500 Million On Tamiflu That Doesn't Work | ||
 December 9, 2009 £500MILLION SPENT ON TAMIFLU BUT BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL SAYS IT DOESN’T WORK By Victoria Fletcher  TAMIFLU does not work on healthy patients who get swine flu An investigation by the British Medical Journal has found no robust data to prove that Tamiflu prevents swine flu from becoming a serious condition. In what could prove an acute embarrassment to the Government, analysis by two teams of academics suggests that the benefits of Tamiflu were vastly over-estimated. And it could call into question the Government’s decision to spend £500million stockpiling the drug. The research, published in the BMJ online, reviewed a number of studies looking at how well Tamiflu works in otherwise healthy patients. Some of the data was provided by the drug’s manufacturer Roche. But after some research was thrown out of the analysis, experts said they could only find evidence to prove Tamiflu reduces the length of illness by a day. Although they admitted it was of great use in reducing the severity of swine flu in people with underlying health conditions, they said this was not the case in “healthy” swine flu victims. Dr Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of the BMJ, said there was not enough good research on Tamiflu to prove it works on healthy patients. “Governments around the world have spent billions of pounds on a drug that the scientific community now finds itself unable to judge,” she said. The news came as another area of the Government’s pandemic flu campaign also descended into chaos. Health Secretary Andy Burnham announced that under-fives will be offered the swine flu jab in the next three weeks. But it quickly emerged that GP leaders were not on-board with the plan, following a row over how much they would be paid. While the Government wants to pay £5.25 for each jab given, the British Medical Association said this was not enough. The impasse means local health bosses will have to step into the breach and negotiate a pay deal with family doctors or ask pharmacists and district nurses to provide the jabs instead. Last night the Government stood by its decision to offer Tamiflu to all patients. A spokesman said: “On November 30 the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies reviewed the most up-to-date available evidence on anti-viral use and concluded that it clearly continues to point towards a benefit in those with severe illness.” A spokesman for Roche said that they “firmly believe in the robustness of the data”. |
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