Health & Fitness - 'Cocktail' for anti-viral-resistant H1N1

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'Cocktail' for anti-viral-resistant H1N1

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (UPI) -- A drug cocktail using three prescriptions offers the best hope in developing a single agent to treat drug-resistant H1N1 flu, U.S. researchers said.

Mark Prichard, a virology researcher at the University of Alabama Birmingham division of pediatric infectious diseases, said in laboratory testing the triple combination of oseltamivir, or Tamiflu; amantadine or Symmetrel; and ribavirin showed a significant capacity to stop flu-virus growth.

Prichard said the combo drug works better in the test tube than currently recommended single or double anti-viral therapies used to treat both seasonal and H1N1 flu strains.

"These findings suggest strongly that the triple combo is highly synergistic against virus replication, meaning it strikes multiple targets within H1N1 flu and other strains," Prichard said in a statement. "Only human testing will determine for sure, but this combo has the potential to be the anti-viral therapy of choice for serious flu infection and to address Tamiflu resistance."

The triple-combo testing is led by Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc., in Emeryville, Calif. The company is beginning human testing in the Southern Hemisphere and has plans to begin human testing in North America once approval is obtained, Prichard said.

Prichard presented the findings at the annual Interscience Conference on Anti-microbial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 10/29/2009

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