MPs have urged the government to rethink its multimillion pound spend on Tamiflu because of doubts over its efficacy.

There remained a "lack of consensus" over Tamiflu's effectiveness in a flu pandemic due to insufficient information, the public accounts committee said in a report published on Friday (January 3).

The committee urged the government to rethink its plan to spend £49 million on stockpiling Tamiflu this year, which was based on "judgement rather than evidence". But Tamiflu manufacturer Roche stressed that it had now provided data from all 77 of its studies on the drug, which would support its "efficacy and safety".

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	The manufacturer first agreed to release full Tamiflu data in 2009 under pressure from the scientific community. It has now handed all information to the Cochrane Collaboration for a full review, which is yet to be published.

MPs on the public accounts committee, which took evidence on Tamiflu and overall disclosure of clinical trials data, criticised Roche for failing to provide full information at an earlier stage. "The lack of transparency of clinical trial information on this drug to the wider research community is preventing proper discussion of this issue among professionals," said committee member Richard Bacon, Conservative MP for South Norfolk.

The committee urged the government to reconsider its decision to stockpile Tamiflu at 50 per cent population coverage and to take into account the level of stockpiling in other countries and the drug's upcoming patent expiry in 2016.

"The case for stockpiling antiviral medicines at the current level is based on judgement rather than evidence of their effectiveness during an influenza pandemic," Mr Bacon argued. "Before spending money in future to maintain the stockpile, the [Department of Health] needs to review what level of coverage is appropriate."

The committee highlighted the government's failure to ensure Tamiflu stock was stored correctly in 2009, leading to £74m of supplies being wasted.

Roche stressed that Tamiflu was a licensed medicine in more than 80 countries, recommended by Nice and the World Health Organization. It stood by the "integrity and robustness" of its data supporting Tamiflu, and said it now released all clinical study reports, periodic safety reports and summary reports on its medicines.