Tamiflu Approved For Use On Infants By FDA

Tamiflu Approved For Use On Infants By FDA

The use of Tamiflu for infants aged less than one year, who have flu-like symptoms like cough, stuffy nose, fever, sore throat, and body aches for a maximum of two days, was recently given approval by the FDA.

However, the medication was not given approval for use in the prevention of flu for this particular age group. For the moment, no other medication was given approval for use among children less than one year who are at risk of contracting flu complications aside from Tamiflu.

The medication can be used for flu prevention among one year old children and older.

Although the dosage for one-year-old children is fixed, the dosage for children less than one year old will depend on the weight of the infant. The dosage for this age group is limited to three milligrams for every kilogram of their body weight, twice a day, for five days.

According to Edward Cox, Office of Antimicrobial Products director, a suitable dispenser should be provided by pharmacists that will allow parents to measure and give the appropriate dosage to the children since the dispenser on the Tamiflu package is not suitable enough

The approval given by the FDA for the use of Tamiflu for this age group was based on information taken from previous research among older children and adults. Two studies revealed that the safety profile among infants was similar to the profile of adults and older children.

The studies made prior to the approval of the use of Tamiflu among young children also showed some side effects including diarrhea and vomiting.

Posted by George Daniels on Sunday December 23 2012, 5:26 AM EST. Ref: Web MD. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0