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.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
RSS