Healthy Skepticism Library item: 8928

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Publication type: news

Chugai-funded researcher saw no fault in Tamiflu
Kyodo News 2007 Mar 14
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070314a6.html

Full text:

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. has given 10 million yen over five years to a Yokohama City University researcher whose studies say there is no causal relationship between the firm’s influenza drug Tamiflu and abnormal behavior in children taking the drug, university sources said Tuesday.

In October, Shumpei Yokota, a professor of pediatrics at Yokohama City University, released the results of research involving about 2,800 children, saying there was no difference in the behavior of the kids who took Tamiflu and those who did not.

“Studies on Tamiflu have been conducted by several researchers with the intention of making the information public, and grants do not have any impact on the results of the research,” Yokota said.

The safety of Tamiflu is being questioned after several incidents in which children taking the drug exhibited abnormal behavior, including kids who apparently committed suicide.

Chugai Pharmaceutical, the Tokyo-based unit of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., which makes Tamiflu, said it gave the grants as part of its program to noted research and to help contribute to the improvement of national medical services.

The state is stockpiling Tamiflu to prepare for the possibility of an epidemic of a new, stronger strain of influenza.