QDIS Blog

Tamiflu is back in the news.

FDA Posts New Tamiflu Warning

WLBZ2.com - Prescription Flu Drug Can Trigger Bizarre Behavior

Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) Information page (FDA page)

IMPORTANT PRESCRIBING INFORMATION (pdf)

There are reports that use of Tamiflu MAY, and I emphasize MAY, be associated with some side effects such as delirium. There have been 103 reports with 95 of those came from Japan, 3 from the US and 6 from other countries. It should be noted this is primarily in Japan and it is well known that the Japanese population can have some difference in how they respond to drugs that differ from other ethnic groups or geographic areas.

One of the problems is it is almost impossible to determine if the cause is Tamiflu. It is also rare having only 105 cases out of 24.5 million prescriptions in Japan and 6.5 million in the US. So the rate for US and Japan is 98 out of 31 million or 0.00025%.

I personally think this is the media getting out of hand. I looked though many reports and very few even mention how few cases there are given the number of prescriptions that have been filled. Remember that it is the odd or bizarre that attracts attention in the media gets written about. THe commonplace is considered boring.

Other Resources

• Yahoo! News Search Results for new tamiflu
• tamiflu - Google News

Technorati Tags: oseltamivir phosphate, Roche, Tamiflu

Email Ed Vawter

Bookmark it with: | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | Simpy | Spurl | My Yahoo! |