In 1999, the FDA approved Tamiflu for the treatment & prevention of Influenza. In 2020, a Federal Judge denied Roche's motion to dismiss a $1.5 Billion Fraud suit. But, Roche is at it again!

Remnant MD

Brief Background

On October 27th, 1999 the FDA approved Roche’s new antiviral drug Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) for the ‘treatment and prevention’ of Influenza.

Based on unpublished trial results, Roche made the following claims:

• Tamiflu reduces hospital admissions by 61%

• Tamiflu reduces secondary complications by 67%

• Tamiflu reduces the need for antibiotics (prevent pneumonia) by 55%

Recommendation: Use Tamiflu within 48 hours of flu symptom onset.

Roche had cleverly convinced European and US governments to stockpile billions of dollars worth of Tamiflu in the event of an Influenza pandemic - to “buy time for vaccine development.”

The US purchased approximately $1.5 billion of the stuff.

Cochrane

The Cochrane Collaboration, now known simply as Cochrane, is a non-profit organization started in 1993 in Oxford, UK with the intent to…

perform rigorous systematic reviews of randomized clinical trials, to ascertain what benefits and harms are associated with an intervenion

Cochrane is one of the most respected institutions in Medicine.

Cochrane is synonymous with systematic review, meta-analysis, and evidence-based medicine.

On the inquiry of a Japanese pediatrician, Cochrane attempted to track down the data that was used by Roche to buttress their claims. This did not go so well.

https://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b5387.full

As it turns out, Roche left seven of their trials on Oseltamivir unpublished - submitting only the two trials which could be statistically hacked to show some benefit to regulators.