(3/12/99)
A futuristic way to treat the flu, courtesy of the Space Program.
A NASA experiment in space has led to the development of a potent new drug
which attacks the flu virus and keeps it from spreading.
Science Specialist Ed Yeates shows us how.
The flu virus may be sorry it ever took this trip into space in 1996.
It's voyage aboard Columbia in miminal gravity apparently gave scientists
some insights into its weaknesses.
Now, human testing is underway among several pharmaceutical companies,
all testing what are called neuraminidase inhibitors. They could be taken as
pills or through a nasal inhalant.
Dr. Karen Moore, of the University of Alabama, says, "The flu virus is smart
and it mutates and changes every cycle - so vaccines have to be changed. These
new drugs will target an enzyme on the surface of the flu virus that doesn't
change."
Talking with Eyewitness News via satellite, Dr. Moore says Alabama
researchers mapped the molecular structure of the virus - using space-grown
protein crystals.
She believes this latest compound may be the most potent of all.
"We hope that within the next few years to have a drug in the marketplace," she
says.
In fact Alabama researchers are so confident, they predict spinoff
neuraminidase inhibitors in the future which could eliminate the need for flu
shots.
While medical researchers share Dr. Moore's enthusiasm for the new compounds,
they don't believe even new antiviral drugs will replace the vaccine.
Dr. Spotswood Spruance, of the University of Utah Infectious Disease Research,
says, "As far as giving the population in general a medication all winter for
example would involve a tremendous expense and many people would be taking
medication who didn't need it."
While Dr. Spruance and his colleagues in Utah eagerly await the new drugs
- he believes they should be used along with the vaccine - giving backup
protection to high risk people.
The neuraminidase inhibitors promise to be twice as potent against the flu
and with fewer, if any, side effects.
