New Inhaled Drug Protects Against Flu

Researchers in Japan have found that one inhaled dose of Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s CS8958 (or laninamivir) worked better than Tamiflu to keep mice alive when infected with a normally deadly dose of H5N1 avian influenza. In the study, mice were given a single dose two hours after infecting them with H5N1, which experts fear could cause a pandemic, and also used it to prevent infection. The study was reported on in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens, which covered dozens of ongoing studies of a new batch of influenza drugs being developed by a variety of companies. Daiichi Sankyo has applied for approval of the drug and aimed to bring it to market by March 2011.