Roche's antiviral drug Tamilflu can reduce the symptoms of influenza, or flu, by about a day, reveals a new study.
Oseltamivir, which is marketed under the trade name Tamiflu, is used to treat people suffering with influenza type A or type B.
Previously, the flu medicine has faced a lot of controversies as there was no evidence that the drug worked any better than paracetamol. The drug was given to many people after the wine flu outbreak of 2009. Some medical experts believed that the government uselessly spent a lot of money on Tamiflu.
However, a latest study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine suggests that they have found evidence that Tamiflu reduces the symptoms of flu by around one day and also cuts down the probability of medical complications or hospital admission.
The researchers claim that this is the most thorough study, which includes published as well as unpublished evidence regarding the effectiveness of Tamiflu.
"Our meta-analysis provides compelling evidence that oseltamivir therapy reduces by one day the typical length of illness in adults infected with influenza and also prevents complications and reduces the number of people needing hospital treatment," says Professor Arnold Monto of the University of Michigan, who is also the lead author of the study.
The latest study claims that Tamiflu can reduce the length of flu by about 21 percent, or from 123 to 98 hours. The study also suggests that the medicine also reduces respiratory infections by 44 percent and cuts down on hospital admissions by over 60 percent.
Professor Peter Openshaw, who is the Director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at the Imperial College London, reveals that it is an important study as it highlights that Roche's claims about the drug held grounds.
Even though Tamiflu is beneficial for flu patients, it also comes with certain side effects. The drug increased the risk of nausea in patients by 3.7 percent and vomiting by 4.7 percent in comparison to a placebo.
Some medical experts are still concerned about some of the other side effects of the drug. Eight kids who consumed the drug committed suicide in Japan after suffering from psychotic episodes. Some other side effects of Tamiflu are kidney problems and headaches.
The efficacy of the drug is still hotly debated and there are still questions that remain to be answered about when and how to prescribe the drug.
The study has been published in The Lancet.
