Tamiflu News and Research

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Flu pandemic long overdue

Here we go again. Just when we thought it was safe to go outside, the threat of another potential flu pandemic raises its head and hysteria builds again. Once again there is talk of quarantine, airport surveillance, travel restrictions and public closures.

29 Apr 2009

Swine flu pandemic threat puts the world on high alert

An outbreak of swine flu in humans has health experts and officials around the world on high alert and there is great concern, as more countries report new cases of the disease, that the world may be on the brink of a pandemic.

27 Apr 2009

Safety of bird flu drug Tamiflu in children questioned

A prominent Japanese researcher reporting on the bird flu drug Tamiflu says the drug may not be safe for children.

20 Apr 2009

Hovione's TwinCaps inhaler in phase III trials for influenza

Hovione has announced that its licensee Daiichi Sankyo has informed that it intends to use Hovione's TwinCaps dry powder inhaler device in the launch of the compound CS-8958, an inhaled long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor active against the influenza virus.

15 Apr 2009

Influenza A's resistance to drug Tamiflu increasing

Influenza A viruses (H1N1 subtype) that are resistant to the drug oseltamivir circulated widely in the U.S. during the 2007-2008 influenza season, with an even higher prevalence of drug resistance during the current 2008-2009 influenza season, according to a study to be published in the March 11 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2 Mar 2009

Scientists identify human monoclonal antibodies effective against bird flu

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber), Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported the identification of human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that neutralize an unprecedented range of influenza A viruses, including avian influenza A (H5N1) virus, previous pandemic influenza viruses, and some seasonal influenza viruses.

22 Feb 2009

Widespread antiviral drug use can accelerate the evolution of drug resistance in viruses

Influenza's ability to resist the effects of cheap and popular antiviral agents in Asia and Russia should serve as a cautionary tale about U.S. plans to use the antiviral Tamiflu in the event of widespread avian flu infection in humans, scientists say.

7 Jan 2009

Bird flu becoming more resistant to antivirals

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the resistance of the avian flu virus to a major class of antiviral drugs is increasing through positive evolutionary selection, with researchers documenting the trend in more than 30 percent of the samples tested.

7 Jan 2009

GlaxoSmithKline ready to supply Biota's Relenza to meet CDC recommendations

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is prepared to respond to public health needs for Relenza (zanamivir) Inhalation Powder this flu season following a Health Alert Advisory issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

21 Dec 2008

Study looks at Tamiflu resistance in influenza viruses caused by environmental contamination

The research council FORMAS, Sweden, has granted 5.9 million SEK to a new research project that will study the environmental fate and effects of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu on the development on influenza resistance.

26 Nov 2008

Discovery of new drug candidates to combat bird flu

As the specter of a worldwide outbreak of avian or "bird flu" lingers, health officials recognize that new drugs are desperately needed since some strains of the virus already have developed resistance to the current roster of anti-flu remedies.

2 Jul 2008

Bird flu pandemic would require multi-drug approach

Scientists have uncovered a change in the H5N1 bird flu virus which makes it resistant to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. The mutation in the N1 component was found in human cases of the disease and suggests that a single drug approach is likely to be ineffective in case of a bird flu pandemic in humans. The findings by a team at the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research are published in Nature.

15 May 2008

Another outbreak of bird flu in Seoul - all poultry in the city culled

A second outbreak of bird flu in Seoul, the capital of South Korea in less than a week has prompted the culling of all domestic fowl in the city.

13 May 2008

Bird flu pandemic risk just as real and probably growing

Experts are warning that the risk of a human bird flu pandemic remains just as real and is in fact probably growing.

8 May 2008

Bird flu pandemic risk just as real and probably growing

Experts are warning that the risk of a human bird flu pandemic remains just as real and is in fact probably growing.

7 May 2008

Purdue's new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu

A new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu and its evolving forms, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discovered the new preventative drug and have tested it in mice.

17 Apr 2008