Tamiflu Green Light For Smaller Childrens Doses

The new doses of 30 mg and 45 mg and are designed for children

A few months ago we reported that the drug company Roche had applied to the European Union health authorities to be allowed to sell different sized versions of their influenza medication Tamiflu. Just recently the EMEA announced that they had no reservations with this new size of Tamiflu and gave the smaller versions full approval for sale and marketing. This means that the smaller versions of Tamiflu will be able to be sold in 27 different countries around the European Union now. The American health authorities namely the Food and Drug Administration has already given full approval for the lower versions of Tamiflu to be sold in America.

The new doses of 30 mg and 45 mg and are designed for children who would find the larger 75 mg standard dose Tamiflu too large. The lowered dose versions are designed to be given to children of the age of one and older. Roche also said that they are designing the newer versions of Tamiflu to have a longer shelf life than previous patches especially as some governments are finding that the Tamiflu that they purchased a few years ago but is now going out of date and thus is ineffective.

The bird flu drug Tamiflu has made the Swiss drug company Roche extremely rich as sales have been in the region of one of half billion euros over the last year. Most of the sales of Tamiflu have been direct to worldwide governments who are stockpiling the drug to protect their citizens in the case of an all out bird flu pandemic. At present Tamiflu is recommended by the World Health Organisation to be the best drug for humans to take in the event that the deadly H5N1 virus changes and mutates into a form that is contagious between humans.