Influenza Research 2022

Antivirals and Therapeutics

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Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid, an inhaled powder, or an intravenous solution) that fight against the flu in your body. Antiviral drugs are different from antibiotics, which fight against bacterial infections. Studies show that flu antiviral drugs work best for treatment when they are started within 2 days of getting sick. There are three FDA-approved influenza antiviral drugs recommended by CDC this season to treat influenza. The brand names for these are Tamiflu® (generic name oseltamivir), Relenza® (generic name zanamivir), and Rapivab® (generic name peramivir). Tamiflu® is available as a pill or liquid and Relenza® is a powder that is inhaled. (Relenza® is not for people with breathing problems like asthma or COPD, for example.) Rapivab® is administered intravenously by a health care provider. Viral vectors and viral vaccines more and more play an important role in current medical approaches. Higher safety demands, that is, reduction of side effects, by regulatory authorities like Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA), nowadays force developers as well as manufacturers to improve their production and purification processes for viral vectors and vaccines. For influenza viral vaccines, manufacturers begin to switch from egg cultivation to mammalian cell culture systems.