Deaths and drug resistance cast doubt over use of Tamiflu
Source: Financial Times
Date: 22/12/2005
All national newspapers today report the news that the New England Journal of
Medicine has published new reports of resistance to the bird-flu drug Tamiflu
and deaths of patients in Vietnam. Four out of eight patients suffering from
the H5N1 strain of the virus and treated with Tamiflu died, including two who
developed resistance to the drug. One of the patients was treated at an early
stage of infection, when Tamiflu is supposed to be most effective. The deaths
in Vietnam have provoked new questions about the drug, which has been ordered
by more than 50 governments in recent months as a potential prophylactic and
treatment in the case of a bird flu pandemic.
An accompanying article in the Journal reinforced calls for alternative
approaches to treatment for a pandemic, including the stockpiling of the rival
drug zanamivir, or Relenza.