Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held company, announced today that it has expanded its Phase 2 clinical study of a proprietary investigational triple-combination antiviral drug therapy for influenza to include centers in the United States, Canada and Europe. The study, which was initiated in August 2009 in the Southern Hemisphere, is designed to investigate Adamas' triple combination antiviral drug (TCAD) therapy as a treatment for influenza A, including novel influenza A/H1N1, the cause of the current flu pandemic. TCAD therapy consists of Adamas' proprietary combination of amantadine and ribavirin administered adjunctively with a neuraminidase inhibitor such as oseltamivir. The study is designed to assess the ability of TCAD therapy to suppress replication of the influenza A virus, alleviate symptoms from subjects and impede the development of resistance.
"Immune-compromised patients are at increased risk for life-threatening complications from influenza infection, and therefore the development of a broad-spectrum anti-influenza treatment is critical for this underserved population," said Gregory Went, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Adamas. "We have accelerated our development efforts to generate clinical data that demonstrate how TCAD therapy can address the needs of influenza patients in light of the prevalence of novel influenza A/H1N1 flu this season and growing concerns about the emergence of antiviral resistance during treatment with single neuraminidase inhibitors like oseltamivir."