The effectiveness and safety of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu has been cast into doubt by experts.
An international team of researchers said that while the drug reduces the duration of flu symptoms, there is no clear evidence that Tamiflu prevents complications and reduces the number of people needing hospital treatment, as claimed by the pharmaceutical company Roche.
Tamiflu is now the drug of choice to treat influenza in the UK. At the peak of the swine flu pandemic, the UK had ordered enough Tamiflu to treat 80 per cent of the population.