Drug Combo Better for Avian Flu

Preclinical tests have found that two drugs were effective against the avian flu virus H5N1 when given alone but were most effective when used in combination.

The research was conducted by investigators at Utah State University (Logan, USA) affiliated with the U.S. Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA). The two drugs tested were Tamiflu (oseltamivir), from Roche (Basel, Switzerland), and Ampligen, from Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA, USA).

Following the tests, the investigators reported that "The overall assessment is that there was improvement in cell protection when Ampligen was combined with Tamiflu.” Ampligen is a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) therapeutic drug that induces a broad spectrum of antiviral immune responses. The drug's effectiveness has shown the ability to boost the effectives of influenza vaccines by more than 300%, according to Japanese researchers, while offering cross-protection against the mutated strains of flu virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland) recommends that countries stockpile enough antiviral medicine to treat 25% o their population, the percentage expected to be affected if a pandemic occurs. Resistance to Tamiflu has occurred in an avian flu patient in Vietnam, according to a report in the October 20, 2005, online edition of Nature, emphasizing the need for additional therapies. If countries begin using Tamiflu as a prophylaxis, it could make the virus resistant to the drug and more difficult to control.





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