Japan Cuts Tamiflu Prescriptions to Teenagers Following Suicides
by Richard Daverman, PhD
Centient Biotech Investor
In Japan, where the injected drug Tamiflu is used routinely to treat influenza, physicians were advised not to prescribe the drug to teenagers because of numerous cases of delirium, hallucinations, and bizarre behavior.
In recent months, two Japanese teenagers have jumped to their deaths from multi-story condominiums. In the past weeks, two others jumped from first-story windows and broke their legs. These cases follow others in which teenagers ran from their houses into the streets, sometimes being killed.
Tamiflu is distributed in Japan by Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. In the rest of the world, Roche (RHHBY) produces and markets the drug, while Genzyme (GENZ) receives a royalty based on revenues. It is a treatment for flu, not a vaccine, an indication for which there are few alternatives.
Roche issued a statement saying that no causal relationship between the incidents and the abnormal behavior has been established. They noted further that the flu itself can cause people to act in a bizarre fashion.
The FDA has received more than 100 reports of unusual behavior, most of it in Japanese children, in the 10-month period from August 29, 2005 to July 6, 2006. In response, the FDA added a precaution to Tamiflu’s label in November 2006. Because it must be injected, the drug is not usually administered in the US, unless the case causes unusual anxiety.
Tamiflu is important in the US mostly because it is expected to be effective against bird flu. Although cases of the disease continue to appear, they do not seem to be gaining momentum, and the crucial mutation that would allow the virus to be transmitted from one person to another has not occurred.
Source: CentientInvestor.com
RELATED READING:
- Raggedy Ann and the Anti-Vaccination Movement
- Novavax to Advance Avian Flu Vaccine Despite Government Snub
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Centient Biotech Investor
In Japan, where the injected drug Tamiflu is used routinely to treat influenza, physicians were advised not to prescribe the drug to teenagers because of numerous cases of delirium, hallucinations, and bizarre behavior.
In recent months, two Japanese teenagers have jumped to their deaths from multi-story condominiums. In the past weeks, two others jumped from first-story windows and broke their legs. These cases follow others in which teenagers ran from their houses into the streets, sometimes being killed.
Tamiflu is distributed in Japan by Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. In the rest of the world, Roche (RHHBY) produces and markets the drug, while Genzyme (GENZ) receives a royalty based on revenues. It is a treatment for flu, not a vaccine, an indication for which there are few alternatives.
Roche issued a statement saying that no causal relationship between the incidents and the abnormal behavior has been established. They noted further that the flu itself can cause people to act in a bizarre fashion.
The FDA has received more than 100 reports of unusual behavior, most of it in Japanese children, in the 10-month period from August 29, 2005 to July 6, 2006. In response, the FDA added a precaution to Tamiflu’s label in November 2006. Because it must be injected, the drug is not usually administered in the US, unless the case causes unusual anxiety.
Tamiflu is important in the US mostly because it is expected to be effective against bird flu. Although cases of the disease continue to appear, they do not seem to be gaining momentum, and the crucial mutation that would allow the virus to be transmitted from one person to another has not occurred.
Source: CentientInvestor.com
RELATED READING:
- Raggedy Ann and the Anti-Vaccination Movement
- Novavax to Advance Avian Flu Vaccine Despite Government Snub
____________________
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