Tamiflu Warnings
Written by Stuart Stevens | Sunday, 03 December 2006 | There are 0 comments
We’ve reported on this issue before when there were some reports that Tamiflu had caused psychiatric problems in some patients in Japan and even though Roche the maker of Tamiflu says that there is nothing to worry about it now appears that to be on the safe side they are including some warnings in the labelling of the drug. Roche is now saying that anyone who takes the Tamiflu medication should be checked regularly and monitored for any strange behaviour such as psychiatric issues that could cause delirium or suicide in extreme cases.
Roche has been in talks with the Food & Drug Administration since there were reports of patients exhibiting strange behaviour following taking the Tamiflu drug. In all the FDA is looking at 103 adverse psychiatric events that occurred after taking the flu drug.
All of the cases were with children below the age of seventeen in Japan and worryingly included 3 cases were the patients jumped or fell to their deaths. In Japan one case involved an 8 year old who would not answer to his name after using the drug.
The FDA said that while there is no concrete proof that the Tamiflu was the cause of the strange behaviour it was prudent to include a warning about the rare side effects of the drug. It could well be that the strange behaviour and delirium was in fact caused by the flu virus itself and had nothing to do with the Tamiflu itself. Another older drug that has been used for years for influenza is known to produce occasional neurological side effects also.
Roche said in a formal statement that they were aware of the very rare adverse advents associated with Tamiflu and at this point could not know for certain if it was the Tamiflu that was causing it but to be safe felt that they would work closely with the Food & Drug Administration to make sure that the labels of the Tamiflu covered all events.
In Japan it should be noted that nearly 25 million Tamiflu prescriptions were issued over a 4-year period compared to only 6.5 million for the same period in the United States.
