In the last few weeks people have been discussing new promising broad spectrum antivirals such as DRACO and LJ001, but those seem to be a long way of from being commercially available. However, while searching online I came upon one drug that was developed in 2008 by the UT Southwestern medical center and which is already being tested on humans with positive effects, so we can likely expect it to be available soon?
The drug is called Bavituximab: http://www.scienceda...81123150247.htm
..."Bavituximab treatment also cured mice infected with cytomegalovirus, an opportunistic infection that afflicts transplant and AIDS patients."
..."In the study, half of the guinea pigs infected with a virus similar to the Lassa fever virus were cured when bavituximab was administered alone. This is the first report of a therapeutic treatment being effective against advanced Lassa-like fever infections in animals....In a second experiment, researchers administered both bavituximab and the anti-viral medication ribavirin. Ribavirin works by a different mechanism than bavituximab; it stops virus replication in the cell. With this combination therapy, 63 percent of guinea pigs survived."
....."Bavituximab is currently in clinical trials to treat patients with hepatitis C. The trials have shown that treatment is safe for patients, and researchers are reporting a reduction in their blood-virus load."
It could also possibly work against the following viruses based on the mechanism Bavituximab uses to attack viruses:
..."UT Southwestern researchers have found that phosphatidylserine flipping occurs in cells infected with influenza, the herpes simplex virus and viruses in the families of the small pox and rabies viruses. Other researchers have shown that this also occurs in HIV.
"It could very well be that this is a generic feature of enveloped viruses," Dr. Soares said. "It could lead to a new, broad spectrum anti-viral treatment."
Edited by Dmitri, 13 September 2011 - 07:56 PM.
