Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Swineflu developing resistance against Tamiflu

At singapore swine flu virus infecting a woman mutated into a drug-resistant form virtually overnight, doctors reported in a study that they say shows the limitations of using drugs to treat influenza.

oseltamivir is generic name of Tamiflu.According to Masafumi Inoue of the Agency for Science, Research and Technology in Singapore and colleagues -
"Our data indicate that oseltamivir resistance developed within two days,"

Tamiflu was developed in 2008 made and distributed by Roche and Gilead Sciences.One other flu drug is licensed -- GlaxoSmithKline's and Biota's Relenza, known generically as zanamivir. Like Tamiflu, it is in the class of drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors.

A small biotech called BioCryst is developing a flu drug called peramivir.

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