Antivirals, pandemic planning, and failure to heed calls for trial data

Because of the disputed effectiveness of neuraminidase inhibitors for flu, the UK Department of Health asked the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wellcome Trust to report on their role in future pandemics. “Prepare to conduct pandemic flu trials in hospitals now,” stated the report’s press release, highlighting the failures in the 2009 pandemic to conduct trials among high risk patients and those admitted to hospital.

Calls for trials in pandemics are far from new and have long been ignored.