A new study concludes that approximately half of the
prescriptions of Tamiflu during the 2009-10 influenza pandemic went unused in
England. The unused medication represents approximately 600,000 courses of
Tamiflu at a cost of around £7.8 million to the UK taxpayer. The novel
scientific method used in the study could help measure and improve the
effectiveness of future pandemic flu strategies.
The finding, published online in the open access scientific
journal PLOS ONE, comes from the first study of its kind to use sewage water to
estimate drug compliance rates, the degree to which a patient correctly follows
medical advice to take medication.