New Study shows "Tamiflu no better than Paracetamol"

Not that anyone should be suprised by this but interesting article from the BBC states that in an authorative study, Tamiflu was found to be no better than Paracetamol when treating Swine Flu (quick..... the Swine flu is coming!!)

www.bbc.co.uk...

Researchers from Cochrane have a fairly decent reputation in the industry of providing impartial analysis so this (presumably) is backed by good statistical evidence based on efficacy; a word that is bandied around the Bio-Pharma markets with regular abandon.

OK so you're writing a story about how Tamiflu doesnt work, how HUNDREDS of millions of pounds were spent by NICE in the UK stockpiling the drug, how efficacy trials were seemingly side-stepped in order to meet the "deadly challenge" and the Journalist doesn't mention the Gillead/Rumsfeld connection once?

I used to work in the Bio-Pharma industry and I'm aware of a few examples of senior civil servants from NICE being somewhat...how shall I put this...duplicitous in terms of their regulated dealings.

I would have expected at least one question to be raised relating to:

How Swine-Flu became such an international hot topic given it was no more dangerous than "normal flu".
How Gilead seemingly bucked their previous (relatively poor) form and were in the right place at the right time to "save lives".
How Tamiflu became the de-facto choice of Government Purchasers
How much money did major shareholders in Gilead ( i.e Rumsfeld) make as a consequence.

Is there an ongoing scam relating to influential people manipulating the medicine industry as a relatively low risk get rich quick scheme?

We suspect it goes on in the miliitarised sectors ( see Cheney/Haliburton) but is this just a frightening co-incidence that besmirches the otherwise exemplary characters of these statesmen and is perpetuated by the grace and favour culture of mod£rn politics (which is, if you think about it.. actually old fashioned as the "mod£rn" system of democracy is a 2000 year old concept after 60,000 years of Kings and Queens doing similar things?

reply to post by Jukiodone


I remember the articles about Rumsfield and Cheney and the pushing of this vaccine onto our school kids.

These men whom are so consumned by greed need to be put in the old fashioned stocks,in my book, in order to get them to remember the old fashioned values they have so carelessly trampled over. How we allow them to show their faces in public is beyond me.

My only surprise is that such a big fuss is being made of this in the media now!
The official study might have only just published its conclusions, but this information has been out there for years.

I had swine flu in 2009 - third time in my life that I've had full on flu and I'm not going to pretend that it wasn't hugely unpleasant.
I had to contact the doctor to get signed off from work and I was offered a Tamiflu prescription if I wanted it. After doing my own research and considering my own health and risk profile, I decided to decline and trust my own immune system to fight it off.

The results of my own research were pretty much the same as those of the study - although it might minimise some of the symptoms and reduce the duration slightly it wouldn't have a huge impact and it came with its own unpleasant side effects.
I simply don't understand why this is being touted as some massive revelation when the same information was openly and publicly available 5 years ago.

"Study confirms that Tamiflu is ineffective" would be a more accurate headline, but then I guess it wouldn't make such a good story.