418 reports of Tamiflu side effects received

LONDON, Aug 11 (KUNA) -- More than 400 reports of Tamiflu side effects have been received since the start of the swine flu outbreak, according to the UK medicines watchdog Tuesday.
Between April 1 and August 6 there were 418 reports, of which 125 were received in the last week alone.
The 418 reports detailed 686 suspected adverse reactions, including allergy to Tamiflu and nausea.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA) is collecting data on suspected side effects, not all of which are confirmed as being caused by the drug.
Tamiflu, which is manufactured by the pharmaceutical group Roche, has vomiting and nausea listed as its main side effects on its packaging.
A total of 11 percent of adults and adolescents taking the drug experience nausea and eight percent have vomiting, according to the summary of product characteristics.
Headaches are another side effect when the drug is taken preventatively rather than as a treatment.
In children, the most commonly reported side effect is vomiting, with 15 percent suffering it and 10 percent having diarrhoea.
A total of three percent of children will get nausea and five percent have reported abdominal pain.
Clinical studies accepted by health bodies in the UK and worldwide show that the drug should not aggravate asthma.
A total of four percent of children with asthma experienced worse asthmatic symptoms when taking the drug, the same proportion as in a group of asthmatic children taking a dummy drug.
Yesterday, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford, southern England, published findings from a study in the British Medical Journal which showed anti-viral drugs used to treat swine flu do not appear to work well in children.
There were an estimated 30,000 new cases of swine flu in England and Wales last week a drop compared with the 110,000 cases the week before.
The British Government has 23 million treatments of Tamiflu and 10.5 million treatments of another anti-viral, drug Relenza.
Orders of Tamiflu have been placed to increase UK supplies to 50 million doses, enough to treat 80 percent of the population.
A MHPRA spokesman said: "We have allocated a dedicated section of our website to receive reports of side effects to Tamiflu and Relenza from doctors and the public in order to spot any developing trends." "We have set up this specific site so that people can log on and report any potential side effects. This will assist us in monitoring the safety of these anti-viral medications," he added. (end) he.ajs KUNA 111530 Aug 09NNNN