We want raw data, now

This week’s BMJ is dominated by a cluster of articles on oseltamivir (Tamiflu) (doi:10.1136/bmj.b5351, doi:10.1136/bmj.b5387, doi:10.1136/bmj.b5106, doi:10.1136/bmj.b5164, doi:10.1136/bmj.b5248, doi:10.1136/bmj.b5364). Between them the articles conclude that the evidence that oseltamivir reduces complications in otherwise healthy people with pandemic influenza is now uncertain and that we need a radical change in the rules on access to trial data. Briefly, in updating their Cochrane review, published this week (doi:10.1136/bmj.b5106), Tom Jefferson and colleagues failed to verify claims, based on an analysis of 10 drug company trials, that oseltamivir reduced the risk of complications in healthy adults with influenza. These …