The concern is over abnormal behavior.

There are new revelations in Japan that a researcher, whose published studies claim Tamiflu doesn’t cause ‘abnormal behvaior,’ also works for a university that received $86,000 in grants over five years from Chugai Pharmaceutical, the Roche unit that distributes Tamiflu there.

Japanese health authorities are investigating more than 50 incidents in which people, including more than a dozen teenagers, died after taking Tamiflu. The latest involved a 14-year-old boy who dove off his balcony. In Japan, ‘Tamiflu suicide‘ has become part of the lexicon.

Meanwhile, last October, Shumpei Yokota, a professor of pediatrics at Yokohama City University, released research involving about 2,800 children, and declared there was no difference in the behavior of the kids who took Tamiflu and those who didn’t.

Yokota, however, denies any impropriety. “Studies on Tamiflu have been conducted by several researchers with the intention of making the information public, and grants do not have any impact on the results of the research,” Yokota tells Kyodo News.

For its part, Chugai says it gave the grants as part of its program to noted research and to help contribute to the improvement of national medical services. The Roche unit has been ordered to provide information to authorities investigating the deaths.

Most likely, this is all a misunderstanding. After all, researchers receive grants from drugmakers on a regular basis. Nothing abnormal in that, is there?
[tags]Chugai Pharmaceuticals, Roche, Side Effects, Tamiflu[/tags]