NICE to look again at Tamiflu after data saga
pharmafile | April 11, 2014 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Jeremy Hunt, Roche, Tamiflu
The UK government has asked NICE to review its guidance for Roche’s troubled pandemic flu medicine Tamiflu after a new report alleges that the drug doesn’t work.
Since the H1N1 swine flu virus outbreak in April 2009 the UK government has spent almost £424 million on stockpiling the treatment, which is meant to ease the symptoms of this strain of virus and reduce the risk of complications.
But new analysis from Cochrane published this week found that Tamiflu (oseltamivir) shortens the symptoms of influenza by just half a day – and finds there is ‘no good evidence’ that it reduces admissions to hospital or complications, such as pneumonia or bronchitis, arising from the virus.
Given these new data the government has now asked NICE to review its guidance on the use of Tamiflu, based on the assessment coming from the Cochrane Collaboration.
NICE says: “We regularly review all our guidance and we will be looking at our guidance on Tamiflu for the prevention and treatment of flu in the light of the updated Cochrane Collaboration review.
“This will form an important part of the information we review to determine whether or not the guidance needs to be updated.”
Data debate
Roche has hit back at the Cochrane and BMJ analysis, calling the report’s methodology ‘often unclear and inappropriate’, adding: “We disagree with the overall conclusions of this report.”
But the Swiss manufacturer, better known for its cancer medicines, did withhold full access to Tamiflu from the Cochrane Collaboration for nearly four years.
Yesterday (Thursday 10 April) the health secretary Jeremy Hunt told ITV News that Roche not making Tamiflu data available was ‘worrying’ and added that it was ‘essential’ that pharma give full access to all data.
The government has also now told NICE and the UK drugs regulator the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency that they must start sharing information and making trial data available to doctors and academics for independent scrutiny.
But on the same day the Department of Health admitted that it has already committed an extra £50 million maintaining its stockpile of the drug.
Ben Adams
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