US health agency to fund new Influenza anti-viral drug

Washington, Jan 9 (UNI) The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a 102.6 million dollars four-year contract to Alabama-based BioCryst Pharmaceuticals to develop the company's influenza anti-viral drug, Peramivir.

According to an official publication, in laboratory studies, Peramivir has been found to be effective against several influenza strains. Funding under the contract will support studies to determine if Peramivir can be an effective treatment for seasonal and life-threatening influenza, including H5N1.

Other research also may examine the drug's potential to prevent influenza infection.

H5N1 is the highly pathogenic strain of bird flu that has reached pandemic levels among birds in Asia and has spread to Africa and Europe, causing the deaths of more than 200 million birds. Since 2003, the virus has been transmitted to 261 people in 10 countries, killing 157, according to the World Health Organisation.

Nearly all human cases have come from direct contact with infected poultry. There have been a few cases of person-to-person transmission, but the virus does not transmit easily among people.

Experts fear that if the virus mutates to become easily transmissible among people, a worldwide pandemic could result.

''Our anti-viral strategy includes not only stockpiling existing antiviral drugs but also seeking out new antiviral medications to further broaden our capabilities to treat and prevent all forms of influenza,'' said HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt in a statement.

UNI