Tamiflu available for infants as young as 2 weeks old


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Updated: 1/07 10:13 pm | Published: 1/07 9:15 pm
Reported by: Cristina Rendon
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – In a bad flu season that is only getting worse, babies are getting some help.

The FDA just approved the use of Tamiflu for infants as young as two weeks old.

Dr. Andrew Pavia with Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City said about 20 percent of Utah children were part of the research when determining if Tamiflu was safe and effective for children under age two.

The drug won’t prevent the flu, but it can shorten the flu in infants with serious symptoms no longer than two days.

Doses for infants are based on each child’s exact weight and come in liquid form.

Pavis said the drug will only be prescribed to babies who really need it and not to infants who will get better on their own.

Get in touch with your local pediatrician if you’re interested in the drug for your child.
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Sar Reedy - 1/11/2013 2:37 PM
0 Votes
Tamiflu for a 2 week old infant!! Are you kidding me! People are such Lemmings, and "Big Pharma" is continuing to grow richer everyday by our utter stupidity.

Dennis - 1/8/2013 6:13 PM
0 Votes
There have been questions about the efficacy of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) as the company that makes it (Roche; Basel, Sw.) has refused to release the trial data for independent analysls. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseltamivir It also appears to have been developed by Chinese scientists C. U. Kim, W. Lew and X. Chan of US-based Gilead Sciences. Other recent news stories reported on the firing of several career R.N.'s for refusing to take a flu shot. I wonder what stories they could tell. But judging from the number of lawsuits settled quietly out of court by Big Pharma (which conveniently allows them to claim they have never lost a lawsuit respecting a particular drug), it appears their track record leaves much to be desired. Which only makes me wonder all the more as to why Roche refuses to release its Tamiflu trial data. And in the absence of that data, I have to wonder how Dr. Parvis in the article above is able to make the determination as to "babies who really need it" and "infants who will get better on their own," especially when further research shows there are other doctors who refuse to give Tamiflu to infants and young children at all. So who is the lay person to trust when doctors, themselves, disagree? I can only speak for myself, of course, but given the choice I'd be willing to bet on my infant's or child's natural immune system before I'd ever reduce them to the status of a clinical guinea pig for the benefit of a pharmaceutical company that refuses to release its trial data.

Julieh - 1/8/2013 8:03 AM
1 Vote
There was a comment made that if the doctor prescribed it, it must be safe. My daughter tookTamiflu three years ago, and ended up at Primary Children's for a week, and hasn't been the same since. Be careful!!!
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