Study: Spray could nip flu in the bud
Published: Monday, September 27, 1999
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DANIEL Q. HANEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
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SAN FRANCISCO
An inhaled prescription drug being introduced next month is nearly 80 percent effective in keeping family members from getting the flu bug when a relative brings it home, according to a new pharmaceutical study.
The medicine, called Relenza, is a powder spray inhaled through the mouth that has already been proven to reduce the duration of a bout of flu by a day or two. The study released Sunday shows it cuts the chance of catching the flu from an ill relative by 79 percent.
Relenza will be the first of a new class of flu medicines known as neuraminidase inhibitors to reach the market.
One drawback to these medicines is that they must be started within the first day or two of symptoms to have any effect on the disease. Most people don't call their doctor at the first twinge of flu's body ache, and they probably could not get an appointment very soon, even if they did.
Doctors also emphasize that the flu vaccine is the best way to ward off the disease, but that the new drugs should help when people fail to get the shots.
Relenza was approved in July by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is made by Glaxo Wellcome, Inc. The company says the drug will be on drugstore shelves Friday.
The wholesale cost for enough Relenza spray to treat one bout of flu will be $37. Between 25 million and 50 million Americans typically get the flu each winter.
Hoffman-LaRoche's Tamiflu, a similar medicine in pill form, is expected to be approved soon.
The results were presented at a meeting of the American Society of Microbiology. Glaxo Wellcome paid for the study.
Often, youngsters bring home the flu to their parents and siblings from school and day care. The latest experiment was intended to see if family members could be protected by taking Relenza at the first sign of flu in the family.
Last fall, 975 families with school-age children volunteered to participate in the study. Between December and March, 337 of these families had a case of flu. The sick person and the rest of the family were randomly assigned to get either the drug or a placebo.
Overall, 4 percent of the folks in the families getting Relenza came down with the flu, compared with 19 percent in the untreated comparison families. Even when they did get sick, their disease appeared to be far milder. Flu in the Relenza-treated family members typically lasted three days, compared with about six days in the comparison group.
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