Coming Soon: A 'Cure' For The Common Cold
by Smrity Sharma
Published on August 12, 2008
With winter comes common cold season which brings along sniffles, sneezes and perhaps a sore throat and annoying cough and catches all of us. But now researchers from Australia believe that they have found a 'cold busting pill' which can actually kick off the common cold.
The trials are being conducted on 200 healthy British volunteers and will be released next April and if successful the medication will be on shelves within 5 years.
Each volunteer will be given either one of three doses of BTA798 drug or those of a placebo over the next few months at a unrevealed location in UK before being exposed to an experimental rhinovirus infection.
Melbourne drug company, Biota, the developers of the flu treatment Relenza, is sure that they can tackle the human rhinovirus, that are in invisible droplets in the air we breathe or on things we touch and are responsible for more than fifty percent of all colds.
According to the team of researchers, the drug known as BTA798 (taken orally and potent inhibitor of human rhinovirus (HRV) works by latching onto the cold causing rhinovirus to prevent it breaking into the body's cells.
In a laboratory test, the common cold pill killed large quantities of cold virus within few hours. The cold busting pill will not only treat cold but will also be used to prevent cold and if it gets successful, it will make some huge chunks of money for its creators.
The researchers say that the cold-busting pill known as BTA798 could be used to clear up sniffles in healthy people and prevent any kind of life threatening infections in asthma, sufferers of cystic fibrosisdefine, bronchitis and emphysema and those with weakened immune systems.
Peter Cook, Biota’s chief executive, said, "It's a significant milestone in the development of what could be a world-first antiviral treatment for HRV (human human rhinoviruses) in high-risk patients."
The latest news comes two weeks later after the Biota Holdings Limited, a leading anti-infective drug development company, told about the successful phase II results for an influenza treatment. Just 21 days before Biota had announced that the company had settled a long legal battle with pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Children get nearly 8 cold per year or more, this contagious viral infection of the upper respiratory tract is the most common infectious disease in the US and is the main reason why children visit doctor and miss school. By the time you turn 70 years of age, most of you had clocked up around 200 colds and spent three years coughing and sneezing.
The symptoms of common cold become visible after 2 to three days after exposure to a source of infection. Though, most colds will clear up within 1 week, but some last for as long as 2 weeks. Medicine can't cure the common cold, but they can help ease symptoms such as muscle aches, headache and fever.
Resting adequately, avoiding vigorous activity and drinking lots of fluids (juice, water and non-caffeinated drinks) will make one feel a bit better.
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