Oz scientists develop new drug to fight cold & flu

London, Jan 3: Australian scientists have developed a new drug that fights all cold and flu infections, including Swine Flu virus.

The drug would prevent everyday life-threatening infections. It should be taken once a day before breakfast

The Veldona lozenge, which tastes like a sweet and dissolves in the mouth, prepares the immune system to attack every cold and flu virus.

Chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Manfred Beilharz, who tested the drug, said, "This is the golden fleece everyone has been looking for."

The lozenge contains tiny amounts of interferon alpha - a protective protein that the body naturally makes when attacked by a virus.

"This medicine is quite cheap to manufacture and very low dosage and doesn't seem to have any side-effects of any significance," he was quoted by Daily Mail as saying.

"When the infection comes along, it still infects but the immune system quashes it in a couple of days. So you will have some symptoms but they will be rather mild and you will go on as normal," he added.

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