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Back in November BioCryst
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX)
submitted an Investigational New Drug application (IND) to the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for injectable
formulations of peramivir, the company's influenza neuraminidase
inhibitor. In
preclinical studies, peramivir has shown potent, broad-spectrum
activity against multiple strains of flu, including the H5N1
virus. Today,
CNBC announced that was approved by the FDA for human testing,
which could begin as early as next month. Coming
off of the news that Tamiflu might not be as effective for
fighting the bird flu as originally though, this is great news. According
to Biocryst, the company which developed Peramivir,
"Peramivir is part of a new class of antiviral agents that
work by inhibiting viral neuraminidase, an enzyme essential for
the influenza virus to
replicate and infect
its hosts. In laboratory tests, peramivir has been shown to be a
potent and selective inhibitor of influenza A and B
neuraminidases
and was generally
well tolerated with few side-effects."
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