‘Runaway train’ Tamiflu, otherwise known as oseltamivir, was developed by Roche Holding AG, approved in the US in 1999, and has been available as a generic since 2016.
More than 100 regulators, including the US Food and Drug Administration, approved the drug based on a rigorous review of its trials, Roche said in an email.
Public health authorities including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with doctors’ groups, recommend it in their guidelines for flu treatment and prevention, Roche said.
Like most antivirals, Tamiflu blocks or slows replication of virus that’s already in the body. If taken quickly, Tamiflu can reduce the duration of infection by one to two days, studies show. “The