A major analysis of the drug Tamiflu has showed that the drug is well capable of cutting duration of flu symptoms in addition to help some patients avoid hospitalization and treatment.

The most exhaustive investigation of the drug to date has claimed that the drug gets flu victims back on their feet faster. In contrast to the conclusion of a previous major analysis that side-effects of the drug outweigh its benefits, the results of the latest analysis has showed that the drug cuts the risk of ancillary infections and hospital care with little side-effects.

Findings of the new study have been published in The Lancet journal, showing the drug is more effective than what has been claimed by many experts earlier.

The drug reduces the duration of symptoms by about one day and cuts the risk of respiratory infection by 44%, found the research, conducted by the University of Michigan, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Alabama.

"The finding that it reduces hospitalization by 63% is especially important, reinforcing the call for family practitioners to use antivirals early rather than resorting to antibiotics, which are of no proven benefit in uncomplicated flu", said Professor Peter Openshaw, Director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London.

The role of antiviral medicines must not be trivialized in reducing the impact of flu, said Dr. John McCauley, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Influenza, MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR).