By Moira Terese Dolan, M.D.

A spokesperson for Tamiflu maker Roche was quoted as saying that "several teenage patients with influenza who were also taking Tamiflu had fallen from buildings after taking the drug."

The drug maker’s second line of defense is to blame the flu virus. While influenza can very rarely infect the brain and cause an encephalopathy, there have never before been hundreds of reports of bizarre behavior, especially in a year where there wasn’t even a flu epidemic.

The third line of defense is to blame Japanese themselves – it must be in the genes if most if the reports are coming from Japan. It is simply a matter of Japanese doctors writing 75% of the worldwide prescriptions for Tamiflu. Japan obviously has the greatest patient exposure and experience with the drug. The Japanese government issued a safety warning in March restricting the use of Tamiflu in adolescents.

There are increasing reports of bizarre behavior in users of Roche’s Tamiflu and also Glaxo’s Relenza as the drugs become more popular in the U.S. The announcement in March of 2007 about the Japanese experience served to alert victims that may not have previously considered their symptoms to be a drug effect. The neuropsychiatric effects are not restricted to children, as several deaths in adults have also been reported in both countries.

The US FDA initially sent out warnings in November 2006. A year later the FDA announced additional label warnings as a result of their study of more than 1,800 reports of abnormal behavior in people who have taken Tamiflu.

Tamiflu sales totaled $1.1 billion in the first half of 2007 alone, thanks in part to governments stockpiling the drugs. With sales and side effects like these, it is worthwhile examining the effectiveness of the drug. Although the drug inhibits the growth of virus in the test tube (in vitro), there is no proof of whether this translates into inhibited viral growth in the living human.  This is explained by the drug maker on the Tamiflu label: “The relationship between the in vitro antiviral activity in cell culture and the inhibition of influenza virus replication in humans has not been established.”

When Tamiflu is taken for the flu the label describes a reduction of symptoms by a whopping 1.3 days. When looking at prevention keep in mind that it is relatively hard to catch the flu. In Roche’s studies only 25 of 519 people exposed to the flu came down with symptoms. It would be necessary to treat some 10,400 people in order to prevent the flu in 380, and 120 of those on Tamiflu would still get the flu. Falling from buildings is a steep price to pay for such unimpressive effectiveness.

Widespread use of anti-viral medications poses a far greater danger to public health. The Roche Tamiflu label describes a very high rate of viral mutation caused by exposure to the drug, wherein the drug breeds viruses that are resistant to it. This occurred in 8.6% of children treated with Tamiflu in the pre-approval drug studies, where only a limited number of subjects were on the drug. Roche’s studies showed that the drug-induced mutant influenza virus resistance to Tamiflu translated to resistance to other antiviral drugs as well. Now, with billions having taken Tamiflu over the course of several years worldwide, it can be predicted that the drug has forced the formation of resistant viral strains around the globe.

Read more about these drugs at:
Bizarre behaviors, suicide associated with Tamiflu http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-25-tamiflu-brain_N.htm
$1.1 billion Tamiflu sales http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/28/news/international/bc.apfn.switzerland.roche.tamiflu.ap/?postversion=2007112809

Read about the flu vaccine at:
Is it true about the flu? An alternative to flu hype and hysteria
"Scientific studies do not support claims that influenza vaccine largely prevents illness, reduces missed workdays, shortens hospitalizations or lowers death rates in the general population." Read full essay.