Tamiflu effectiveness questioned

BOSTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Researchers in Italy, Australia and the United States want to pin down whether tamiflu is effective against pandemic influenza in otherwise healthy adults.

Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Collaboration in Rome, Mark Jones of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, doctoral student Peter Doshi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chris Del Mar, coordinating editor of Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections at Bond University updated a 2005 review of oseltamivir in pandemic influenza.

The public evidence base for this global public health drug -- oseltamivir -- is fragmented and inconsistent, Doshi said.

"Neuraminidase inhibitors -- a class of antiviral drugs targeting influenza A and influenza B -- have modest effectiveness against the symptoms of influenza in otherwise healthy adults. The drugs are effective post-exposure against laboratory confirmed influenza, but this is a small component of influenza-like illness, so for this outcome neuraminidase inhibitors are not effective," the study said.

"Neuraminidase inhibitors might be regarded as optional for reducing the symptoms of seasonal influenza. Paucity of good data has undermined previous findings for oseltamivir's prevention of complications from influenza. Independent randomized trials to resolve these uncertainties are needed."

The Cochrane review is published in the British Medical Journal.