Second study raises questions over the benefits of Tamiflu

Research published in Lancet suggests Tamiflu shortens flu symptoms by only a day, but causes nausea and vomiting

The drug Tamiflu shortens the symptoms of flu by about a day and reduces the numbers who end up in hospital, but it causes nausea and vomiting which may outweigh any benefit, according to a major new analysis of the data.

Tamiflu has been the subject of huge controversy. Researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration fought for four years to extract the full patient data from drug trials by the manufacturer, Roche. They eventually succeeded with the backing of the British Medical Journal and published their review which concluded that the British government’s £424m stockpile of Tamiflu against a pandemic was a waste of money.

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