Study Shows Drug Effective in Preventing Flu

Baylor College of Medicine was one of six medical institutions in the U.S. to take part in a research effort that studied the effectiveness and safety of the drug oseltamivir for the prevention of influenza. The results of the study were published in the Oct. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"We found that more than 74 percent of the volunteers, ages 18 to 65, who took oseltamivir were less likely to develop flu symptoms than those who were given a sugar pill," says Dr. Robert Atmar with Baylor's Influenza Research Center and one of the study's principal investigators.

Marketed under the name Tamiflu™, oseltamivir has recently received approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a treatment for influenza but not yet as a means of prevention. If given within 48 hours after the onset of symptoms, oseltamivir has shown to be effective in decreasing the severity and length of time a person is ill. Like zanamivir, another anti-viral agent recently approved by the FDA for treatment of influenza, oseltamivir treats both the A and B influenza strains.

While these drugs are effective in treating influenza, they should not replace an annual flu shot for flu prevention.

- From Baylor College of Medicine

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Courtesy of Texas Medical Center News

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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