doctors should feel completely free to choose either Tamiflu or Relenza

A research project recently concluded in Japan shows that both the drugs Tamiflu made by the pharmaceutical company Roche as well as Relenza made by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline are equally effective in treating the symptoms of normal influenza in children. The researchers therefore concluded that doctors should feel completely free to choose either Tamiflu or Relenza when treating children between the ages of ten and nineteen.

This study is the first time a completely independent comparison has been made of the effectiveness of these two influenza drugs which are of the category called neuraminidase inhibitors. Almost 350 children who had been given either Tamiflu or Relenza were studied by Dr Norio Sugaya based at the Keiyu Hospital in city of Yokohama.

Previously it had been thought that Tamiflu was by far the most effective medication to deal with influenza in children and therefore this study therefore will come as a boost for GlaxoSmithKline who make the influenza medication Relenza.  Japanese doctors prescribe more Tamiflu than any other nation in the world and it is estimated that more than 70 percent of Tamiflu prescriptions are issued in Japan.

The types of influenza that were present in the children who were studied were the Influenza A, H1N1 and H3N2 viruses as well as the influenza B virus infections. The researchers also noted that both Relenza and Tamiflu worked more effectively against the H3N2 influenza virus than it did against the H1N1 and influenza B viruses.

There is a lot of discussion about whether Tamiflu and Relenza would be effective in a full blown bird flu (H5N1) pandemic.  The Tamiflu drug has been given in many cases where humans have contracted this deadly virus and the results have been good when it has been administered within the first 48 hours.  The Relenza drug has not been administered in many cases but some experts consider it to be just as effective as Tamiflu.

At the end of the day the ability of Tamiflu and Relenza to stop a worldwide bird-flu pandemic killing millions of people can only be tested when one actually breaks out.