EU Says Tamiflu OK

Doctors from the European Medicines Agency on Friday announced that they believe the benefits of prescribing the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu outweigh the potential risk for severe psychiatric side-effects. The statement comes in response to Japan suspending administration of the drug to teens on Wednesday.

Japan previously called for the emergency suspension of use of the drug for children between the ages of 10 and 19. Over 57 different cases have been reported in Japan of youths who had taken Tamiflu committing suicide.

Reports of Tamiflu causing severe neuro-psychiatric effects that potential may lead to reckless and irrational behavior first surfaced over four years ago. The latest cases to be reported occurred last month in Japan when four teens who had taken Tamiflu attempted to kill themselves only hours later. In the unrelated incidents, two teens were successful in jumping to their deaths.

Roche Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, released a statement on Tuesday claiming that the drug was not linked to an increase in psychoses. The press release by Roche cited previous, unrelated clinical trials that showed the number of psychiatric episodes in the general population to be the same as the number shown by patients who had been administered Tamiflu.

The statement released by the EU health committee on Friday says that while they will continue to monitor the situation in Japan, they see no reason to stop the use of Tamiflu. The group, "maintains its opinion that the benefits of Tamiflu outweigh its risks when the product is used according to the adopted recommendations."