Rome, 12 February – The authoritative man launched the news two days ago Wall Street Journal, with an article with the most eloquent title: An experimental drug promises to kill the flu in one day.
The (perhaps) definitive remedy against the flu comes from Japan, the result of research by the Shionogi company in Osaka. According to the first tests, the effects of the drug would be more powerful than all those on the market to date.
The drug, according to reports from the WSJ (taken up in Italy by The newspaper), should obtain marketing authorization as early as next March in Japan, and then face the scrutiny of the regulatory authorities of other countries of the world. The WSJ hypothesizes that the drug may not be available in the US before next year.
The pharmaceutical company Roche, producer of the drug, bought the rights to sell the Japanese drug in Europe. Tamiflu, the drug used up to now to combat the flu, which however requires two doses a day for at least five days to be fully effective. Given that it alone is enough to underline the extraordinary step forward represented by the Japanese drug, which in experimental and clinical studies - confirmed by a latest trial on Japanese and US patients - was immediately effective, killing the flu and its symptoms in one day only and revealing itself capable of defeating both strain A and strain B viruses.
Japanese researchers have come to the synthesis of the new drug (for which it is reasonable to predict a blockbuster destiny destined to grind enormous profits) starting from a drug used against HIV retroviruses. The mechanism of action would be substantially similar: to fight the flu, the new Japanese product interferes and blocks the action of the virus in the bud, which normally "takes control" of the functioning system of human cells, a strategy that allows it to spread and multiply.
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