Study claiming Tamiflu saved lives was based on “flawed” analysis

A study that found that neuraminidase inhibitors reduced the risk of death among adults treated in hospital during the 2009-10 H1N1 flu pandemic was based on a flawed analysis, a statistician has claimed.

Mark Jones, a senior research fellow in the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, told the BMJ that “a crude analysis of the data shows an increased risk of mortality associated with neuraminidase inhibitor treatment,” suggesting that the finding of a reduced risk of death was incorrect.

He has called for the authors of the meta-analysis to release their data so that a full independent analysis could be done. Jones is working on a study to answer the same research question.

For the study, researchers analysed data on 29 234 patients worldwide who were …