Tamiflu stockpile costs government £200,000

Stockpiling the Tamiflu drug on the Isle of Man has cost government £200,000 of dead money.

Pharmaceuticals company Roche provided the Island with the antidote to a swine flu pandemic.

The news comes as an Oxford University study found the drug did nothing to halt the spread of influenza – meaning the UK has wasted £500m on it.

240,000 people in the UK were given the drug 1,000 times a week, and the drug was found to worsen symptoms, rather than easing them.

Director of public health Dr Kishore says it isn’t particularly useful: