Tamiflu Catch-22
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration said “… said there was “insufficient” evidence that Tamiflu was linked to 12 deaths and about three dozen neuropsychiatric events in Japan.”
Given that Tamiflu is the primary drug available to protect people against Avian Flu (should a pandemic ever occur) it looks like we can expect significant negative side effects. It’s Catch-22.
[tease]
In background documents posted Thursday to the FDA’s Web site the FDA said most of the adverse events linked to Tamiflu, including all of the deaths, occurred in Japan. The FDA said all of the children had been diagnosed with influenza, started therapy with Tamiflu “and died suddenly, several of them in their sleep.” The deaths date back to 2000.
[tease]
The FDA said there were 32 reports of “neuropsychiatric” adverse events, 31 of which happened in Japan, and included abnormal behavior, hallucinations, convulsions and encephalitis. The agency said it received a report of two patients, ages 12 and 13, jumping out of their windows after receiving two doses of Tamiflu.