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TOKYO - The Japanese government has ordered the importer of the bird flu drug Tamiflu to warn doctors against giving it to teenagers, domestic media said today.
The warning is to be applied after two more teenagers were found to have injured themselves falling from buildings after taking the drug, produced by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG, media said.
Two young people fell to their deaths last month, triggering concerns that Tamiflu, seen as effective against a possible pandemic triggered by bird flu, may induce psychiatric symptoms.
The drug is imported to Japan by Chugai Pharmaceutical.
No one was available for comment at Health Ministry, which made the announcement in the early hours of Wednesday, a holiday in Japan, media said.
The move came after Roche said that new data from Japan and the United States indicated that there was no established causal link between Tamiflu and psychiatric symptoms.
- REUTERS
