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Peramivir safe, effective in treating influenza symptoms

Issue: October 2014

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A single dose of the antiviral peramivir was safe and effective in treating influenza in adult patients when administered within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, according to new data presented here at ICAAC 2014.

“Based on clinical data, peramivir is the first neuramindase inhibitor that has shown to be safe and effective as a single-dose therapy for patients with acute, uncomplicated influenza,” study researcher Richard Whitley, MD, distinguished professor of pediatrics and director of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, said in a press release. “According to a retrospective combined analysis of two clinical studies, a single dose of peramivir, administered intramuscularly, alleviated flu symptoms, including fever, significantly faster than the studies’ placebo arms.”

 

Richard Whitley

In two multicenter studies — one phase 2 and one phase 3 — a combined 427 adults received a single intramuscular injection of 300 mg peramivir (BioCryst Pharmaceuticals) or placebo within 48 hours of symptom onset of acute uncomplicated influenza. Patients were followed for 14 days.

According to the researchers, peramivir reduced the time to alleviation of symptoms by almost 22 hours, compared with placebo. Peramivir also reduced the time to resolution of fever by 24 hours, and it reduced the amount of viral shedding in patients over the first 2 days. The antiviral was generally safe and well tolerated, they said.

Peramivir has been approved in Japan and Korea since 2010. If approved in the United States, it would be the only single-dose and injection treatment for influenza in the country. No neuraminidase inhibitor has been approved in the US in more than a decade, the researchers noted.

For more information:

Whitley R. Abstract V-1297. Presented at: Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; Sept. 5-9, 2014; Washington, D.C.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.