Japanese officials inform that they are going to start new investigation concerning a potential association between the anti-flu medication Tamiflu and reports of abnormal behavior and deaths among the users.
Formerly, the Ministry of Health in Japan informed that there was no apparent evidence of a causal connection between Tamiflu and the incidents. Now, the ministry wants specialists to evaluate past cases once more, Agence France Presse informed.
Since 2004, the health ministry has been sent twenty two reports of abnormal behavior (15 teenagers and seven adult patients), including four cases of death. Earlier this week, government officials ordered the Japanese importer of Tamiflu to notify healthcare providers not to prescribe the antiviral medications to teenagers, AFP reported.
According to the news service, there have been over a dozen reported cases of youngsters taking Tamiflu who fell or jumped from buildings.
Tamiflu is manufactured by the Swiss medication company Roche, which has denied that there’s any connection between the medication and anomalous behavior. Tamiflu, frequently prescribed for the treatment of patients with seasonal flu, is also considered a frontline medication against a potential flu pandemic.
