Tamiflu saves severely ill flu patients, research finds
POSTED September 14, 2009 - 13:38 | POSTED BY Jaspreet Kaur
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on September 14, 2009 - 14:44
The lives of many severely ill patients who had underlying chronic health problems were saved because of the drug, the researchers said.
Tamiflu, generically known as oseltamivir, is one of two antiviral drugs that are effective against H1N1 swine flu.
Tamiflu cuts down the death rate
The latest study analyzed 760 older, severely ill patients. More than 60 percent of these people were suffering from underlying chronic illnesses, and 78 percent of them had been admitted to the hospital due to flu complications.
For the study purposes, two hospitals in Hong Kong were taken into account during the time period between 2007 and 2008. Half of the patients, who were a part of the study, were administered Tamiflu and the other half were not given any treatment.
The study results showed that Roche and Gilead Sciences Inc’s drug Tamiflu brought down the death rate by 37 percent.
Dr David Reddy, who leads Roche’s pandemic flu task force, elaborated that present study findings point towards the fact that the drug Tamiflu can help save the lives of seriously ill flu patients.
Dr Reddy was quoted as saying, “In this study, Tamiflu improved the survival rate by reducing the rate of death by 37 percent in this high-risk group of patients with severe seasonal flu compared to no treatment.”
Drugs should be taken with caution
As per directives issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is being recommended that the elderly and people suffering from chronic medical conditions should be immediately treated with antiviral drugs whenever they show flu-like symptoms.
These drugs could be either Tamiflu or GlaxoSmithKline and Biota’s Relenza.
However, the health authorities did warn that none of these drugs should be given to otherwise healthy people who have restrained or mild flu symptoms.
Unnecessary intake of these drugs can lead to the development of a strong resistance by the influenza virus. Last year too, it was seen that the seasonal H1N1 virus developed strong resistance to Tamiflu. Two similar older flu drugs, amantadine and rimantadine, are very less effective against influenza viruses now.
The new study was presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco.
