A New Antiviral Agent for Influenza — Is There a Clinical Niche?

Abstract

Zanamivir, a new antiviral agent for influenza, is a potent inhibitor of the viral neuraminidase of types A and B influenzaviruses.¹ The design of zanamivir was based on the three-dimensional structure of the neuraminidase, a structural unit on the surface of the viral particle. In this issue of the Journal, Hayden et al. report that treatment of community-acquired type A and B influenza with zanamivir shortened the duration of major symptoms by about one day in the study group as a whole and about three days in the sicker patients if the drug was started early.² Zanamivir probably interrupts an . . .