Tamiflu for Influenza (flu) – Does It Really Work?

You’ve probably seen the ads for the most popular Influenza (flu) antiviral – Roche’s Tamiflu. It’s supposed to reduce the duration of flu by around 21 hours if taken in the first 36 to 48 hours of illness.

It is also believed to reduce the risk of pneumonia and other complications.

While Tamiflu generates around $3.5 billion a year in sales, is it really as good as the amount of sales would lead you to believe?

The answer appears to be we don’t know.

The Cochrane Collaboration, a highly regarded independent organization that analyses medical research, and the British medical BMJ have been attempting to obtain key studies that are supposed to validate these claims.

Roche has not turned over the research materials. BMJ reported that 8 out of 10 clinical studies that supposedly support Tamiflu’s efficacy have never been published and the other two studies, which were funded and authored by Roche, could not be relied on.

Now, the question is a simple one – without seeing all the research, how can we be sure that Tamiflu does what it says it does or is it just a profit center for Roche?

Reported Health & Healing, Vol. 23, No. 1

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The Myth of Tamiflu