The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7439 p180
17 February 2007

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Treating pandemic flu

It is impossible to predict which drugs will be active against a new pandemic strain of influenza, infectious disease experts argue in the online version of the BMJ (9 February 2007). They suggest that governments should follow the lead set by the UK, US and Greece and stockpile both M2 ion channel inhibitors (amantadine and rimantadine) and neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir).

Conceding that ion channel inhibitors can have unacceptable side effects and that they are associated with resistance, they argue that these can be reduced if they are used in combination with neuraminidase inhibitors. Activity can be preserved by not using them alone or for inappropriate prophylaxis.