BOSTON, Dec 8, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- 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.
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