Imagine all that taxpayer money, gone, straight into the coffers of big pharma. GSK likely doesn't see that as a waste. No sireeee.....Should this be called 'waste'? I would characterize in a more accurate fashion. Theft.Government theft of taxpayer money to enrich a multinational corporation. It was widely know in 09 that Tamiflu was useless and had serious side effects- which are not side effects- they are affectsTamiflu brings about serious symptoms that affect you. Badly.Anyway... if you were not reading here in 09/10 this is for you. If you did read here then, I am feeling vindicated, completely. Which is nice. And makes me quite pleased with my critical thinking skills :)So now when my husband tells me I think way too much..... I will feel it is time well spent.
Tamiflu wasted 100's of MILLIONS of dollars
Figures for the UK alone. Consider the money stolen globally?
The UK has spent £473m on Tamiflu, which is stockpiled by governments globally to prepare for flu pandemics.
For my fellow Canadians that converts to approximately $765 MILLION Canadian dollars
The Cochrane Collaboration claimed the drug did not prevent the spread of flu or reduce dangerous complications, and only slightly helped symptoms.The antiviral drug Tamiflu was stockpiled from 2006 in the UK when some agencies were predicting that a pandemic of bird flu could kill up to 750,000 people in Britain. Similar decisions were made in other countries.
Hidden data
The drug was widely prescribed during the swine flu outbreak in 2009.Drug companies do not publish all their research data. This report is the result of a colossal fight for the previously hidden data into the effectiveness and side-effects of Tamiflu.It concluded that the drug reduced the persistence of flu symptoms from seven days to 6.3 days in adults and to 5.8 days in children. But the report's authors said drugs such as paracetamol could have a similar impact.On claims that the drug prevented complications such as pneumonia developing, Cochrane suggested the trials were so poor there was "no visible effect".
Swine flu Tamiflu was widely used during the swine flu outbreak
Another justification for stockpiling was to slow the spread of the disease to give time for a vaccine to be developed. The report's authors said "the case for this is simply unproven" and "there is no credible way these drugs could prevent a pandemic".It also claimed that the drug had a number of side-effects, including nausea, headaches, psychiatric events, kidney problems and hyperglycaemia.Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford and one of the report's authors, told the BBC: "I think the whole £500m has not benefited human health in any way and we may have harmed people.
"Does a drug work?" should be an easy question to answer. Yet after hundreds of millions of pounds, either down the drain or saving lives depending on your stance, this question is being asked of Tamiflu.
It stems from the way drugs are approved. Pharmaceutical companies conduct trials, some but not all of the data is made publicly available and regulators decide if it works. It is estimated that, entirely legally, half of clinical trials have never been reported and that favourable data is more likely to published.
Half of clinical trials are never reported and favourable data is always picked/publishedObvious
The UK Public Accounts Committee said the lack of data available to researchers and doctors was "of extreme concern".So the Tamiflu saga raises another important question - what other drugs are we using that might not work as well as we thought?
"The system that exists for producing evidence on drugs is so flawed and open to misuse that the public has been misled."
Why am I bringing this up. After all, society as a whole displays the shortest of attention spans. But, not me. Starting in 09 I posted a whole series of news items and studies on the swin(dl)e flu scam, useless prescription meds & the experimental vaccineIt was clear in 09 that Tamiflu was a completely useless pharmaceutical concoction, with some very serious side effects. The benefits did not outweigh the harmPrevious post-Swin(e)dle Flu- Vaccine recall, Tamiflu useless, Numbers infected -false!As for the experimental vaccine- It turned out to be very problematic too. Narcolepsy being just one issue.Narcolepsy and adjuvants What other disorders, diseases and deaths did the Tamiflu & the experimental swine flu vaccine bring on?My condemnation of this entire scam was greeted with derision by some on the self-identified left and caused my blog to be dropped from certain blog rolls- Of course, that decision is entirely the choice of others. However- non acceptance by others of information presented by myself does not influence my choice of information to put forth. After all, I have to live with myself. This above all: to thine own self be true