Tamiflu saves lives of severely ill flu patients

[steven johnson]

Good news for patients who have severe underlying disease -- Tamiflu could potentially save their lives.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Roche AG's antiviral drug Tamiflu helped prevent deaths from seasonal flu in severely ill patients who had chronic underlying health problems, Chinese researchers said on Sunday.

A study of 760 older, severely ill patients in Hong Kong found that Roche and Gilead Sciences Inc's drug Tamiflu cut the rate of death by 37 percent.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that the very old and people with chronic medical conditions should be treated with antiviral drugs -- either Tamiflu or GlaxoSmithKline and Biota's Relenza -- when they have flu-like symptoms...(but) caution against using either drug in otherwise healthy people who have moderate or mild flu symptoms, however, because of the fear of resistance.



Tamiflu saves lives of severely ill flu patients