Cheap, widely-available generic drugs that alter people's immune response could save millions of lives in developing countries without access to a vaccine or antivirals, says a leading vaccine expert. In a paper published last week in Influenza and other Respiratory Diseases, David Fedson suggests that focusing on the host (the human), rather than the virus, in attempts to tackle t
he swine flu — influenza A(H1N1) — pandemic could lead to fruitful new drug approaches such as this. Fedson suggests more research should be done into using statins, fibrates and glitazones — agents normally used by doctors for treating diabetes and high cholesterol — to see if they could help manage an influenza pandemic. He adds that while influenza researchers are aware of this hypothesis, few resources have been invested in pursuing it."If they could be shown to be effective in treating severe influenza, they could be made available to people in all countries on the first pandemic day. The studies would not be very expensive, and the important ones could probably be completed in less than six months," he told SciDev.Net. WHO director-general Margaret Chan is continuing negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to make antivirals and vaccines available to the developing world. GlaxoSmithKline has already pledged 50 million doses of vaccine and Sanofi-Pasteur announced a donation of 100 million doses yesterday (17 June), while smaller companies have promised a percentage of their production. But the Financial Times reported that Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis said it would not donate swine flu vaccine to the developing world. The newspaper said this was "a rebuff to Chan" who had hoped for "solidarity" in fighting the pandemic. Daniel Vasella, Novartis chief executive, told the Financial Times: "If you want to make production sustainable, you have to create financial incentives."
he swine flu — influenza A(H1N1) — pandemic could lead to fruitful new drug approaches such as this. Fedson suggests more research should be done into using statins, fibrates and glitazones — agents normally used by doctors for treating diabetes and high cholesterol — to see if they could help manage an influenza pandemic. He adds that while influenza researchers are aware of this hypothesis, few resources have been invested in pursuing it."If they could be shown to be effective in treating severe influenza, they could be made available to people in all countries on the first pandemic day. The studies would not be very expensive, and the important ones could probably be completed in less than six months," he told SciDev.Net. WHO director-general Margaret Chan is continuing negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to make antivirals and vaccines available to the developing world. GlaxoSmithKline has already pledged 50 million doses of vaccine and Sanofi-Pasteur announced a donation of 100 million doses yesterday (17 June), while smaller companies have promised a percentage of their production. But the Financial Times reported that Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis said it would not donate swine flu vaccine to the developing world. The newspaper said this was "a rebuff to Chan" who had hoped for "solidarity" in fighting the pandemic. Daniel Vasella, Novartis chief executive, told the Financial Times: "If you want to make production sustainable, you have to create financial incentives."For further details visit at:www.scidev.net/en/news/swine-flu-science-update-18-june-2009.html
