Roche responds

doi:10.1136/bmj.b3758

Published 14 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3758
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3758

Letters

A/H1N1 flu pandemic

Roche responds

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in children and the developmentof resistance from widespread usage have been much debated.¹

Antiviral treatments are currently the only available therapeuticoption to prevent and treat infection with the A/H1N1 flu virus.The product summary for oseltamivir shows that it is effectiveand well tolerated in children.

The European Medicines Agency approves oseltamivir to treatand prevent flu in those aged 1 year and over on the basis ofa positive benefit and risk assessment. The product summaryshows that in otherwise healthy children (under 12s) who hadfever with either cough or coryza, treatment started within48 hours of the onset of symptoms significantly reduces thetime to alleviation of illness by 1.5 days compared with placebo.The incidence of acute otitis media was reduced from 26.5% inthe placebo group to 16% in the oseltamivir group. In a groupof asthmatic children, . . . [Full text of this article]