First it was Roche’s Tamiflu. Now, two more flu drugs are being investigated by Japan’s Health Ministry for possible links to abnormal and, sometimes, dangerous behaviour.

The drugs under review, Relenza and Amantadine, have been linked to a total of 16 reports of abnormal behaviour, including 13 involving patients younger than 20 years old, says Health Ministry official Kenji Kuramochi.

Relenza was taken in 10 of the cases, and of the six patients who took Amantadine, two later died. One of the dead patients also took Tamiflu. Like Roche, Glaxo, which sells Relenza, and Novartis, which markets Amantadine, insist no causal relationship has been proven.

Novartis’ Hideto Kita confirmed that all six of the reported cases involving Amantadine occurred after patients took the pill, and that abnormal behaviour linked to Amantadine, which is called Symmetrel in Japan, includes attempts to run out of a room and to jump off a building.

The Health Ministry has been conducting a similar review of Tamiflu and that, as of April 25 there were 186 reported cases of abnormal behaviour among patients taking that drug, including 149 cases involving people younger than 20 years old.

The Swiss manufacturer of Tamiflu, Roche Holding AG, has insisted the drug is safe, and the ministry has not confirmed a causal link between the drug and strange behaviour.

Source: Canadian Press[tags]Amantadine, Relenza, Tamiflu[/tags]