Roche’s Tamiflu works against bird flu strain-study

	Tweet

Roche AG’s Tamiflu anti-influenza drug has been proven to work against H5N1, the strain of the avian flu virus that the World Health Organization says could be the source of a deadly flu pandemic.

In a study released late on Sunday, researchers from the Queen Mary Hospital in London said that oseltamivir, marketed by Roche as Tamiflu, is effective against avian and human forms of the virus, which has so far killed 32 people this year. Tamiflu belongs to a drug class known as neuraminidase inhibitors, which block the action of viral enzymes.

"Since the influenza virus is constantly mutating, today’s is the first data to show oseltamivir to be effective against this highly pathogenic strain, which is currently circulating in Vietnam and Thailand,” the researchers said in a study.

The WHO had already singled out Tamiflu as its drug of choice to protect against bird flu and in case of a human flu pandemic. It was previously proven effective in managing an outbreak of the H7N7 avian strain in the Netherlands in 2003, which infected around 1,000 people, the researchers said.

Roche certificates were last trading 0.3 percent higher at 122.70 Swiss francs in a slightly firmer Swiss market.

Tamiflu, Roche’s 12th-biggest drug last year with 431 million Swiss francs ($359.2 million) in sales, is approved in the United States, Japan and Europe as a treatment for type A and B influenza, and Roche had said in January that it might work against H5N1.

The latest study, to be presented at a conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington D.C. this week, said a total of 44 cases of human infection, 32 of which were fatal, had been detected since the start of the year.

The WHO said on Sunday the world was overdue a pandemic that could kill millions and that the H5N1 virus now killing tens of millions of birds in Asia was the most likely source.

Flu pandemics—global epidemics of new strains of disease that kill a usually higher number of people—come on average every 27 years. The last one was in 1968.

“These new data and the experience in the Netherlands add to previous studies by the WHO and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. and suggest that oseltamivir can be expected to be effective against any mutating influenza virus, which is the key to a pandemic,” said Professor John Oxford of Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, London.

RELATED STORIES:
New test may spot mad cow-type disease in blood   New 2011 CDC Guidelines Announced for Prevention of Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIS)   Worm discovery could help 1 billion people worldwide   Malaria fight saves 750,000, report finds   Scientists advance the fight against SARS   Researchers define a new “first step” that initiates sepsis   Beware E. coli when drinking raw milk: study   Obesity tied to hepatitis C treatment failure   U.S. tuberculosis rate hits all-time low: CDC   More nasal spray flu vaccine coming - officials   Glaxo vaccine cuts malaria in African kids   Vietnam says bird flu kills boy

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]