The reputation of flu drug Tamiflu suffered a fresh blow yesterday on Tuesday when the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and its Japanese partner announced new clinical trials to establish whether there is a possible link between the drug and dozens of deaths and injuries among Japanese teenagers.
The new research on Tamiflu, which is being stockpiled as the best available treatment in a bird flu epidemic, was recommended by a Japanese health ministry drug safety panel investigating fears that it may have a link to several teenagers who killed or harmed themselves during episodes of extreme mental disorder. In February a boy and a girl, both 14, fell to their deaths.
The ministry said there was no evidence of a causal link between Tamiflu and the symptoms but it ordered doctors not to prescribe it to teenagers, except those suffering extreme flu symptoms.
It advised Roche and Chugai Pharmaceutical, which sells the drug in Japan, to begin pre-clinical and human clinical trials to establish whether Tamiflu could be behind sideeffects such as delirium and delusion.
Chugai said that the results of the research, expected by the end of the year, would be used "for the best possible safety measures for the next influenza season."
It said it would conduct clinical trials using 12 to 30 volunteers, while Roche would conduct toxicity studies using rats to gauge the drug's effects on the brain.
"We are taking the situation seriously and are increasing our efforts to look into whether there is any causality," Chugai said.
This week the health ministry said the number of people found to have behaved abnormally after taking Tamiflu had risen from 128 in April to 211 as of last Saturday. More than 1,300 people have exhibited neuropsychiatric symptoms since the drug went on sale in Japan in 2001, of whom 71 have died. Twenty-seven, most in their teens, fell from buildings.
Roche says studies have repeatedly failed to find a link with abnormal behavior. Tamiflu has been used by 45 million people in 80 countries since it went on the market in 1999. Japan accounts for 70 percent of its use.
Roche said tests had shown children using the drug to treat flu were less likely to show such symptoms than those who were not receiving the treatment.
A study conducted by the US food and drug administration in 2005 found no causal link. Some experts agree that severe flu symptoms may have caused the behavior.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said