On December 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Rapivab (peramivir) to treat influenza infection in adults.

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Flu infections can range from mild to severe and can sometimes lead to hospitalization and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 5-20 percent of the American population gets the flu and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from seasonal flu-related complications each year.

Rapivab is an inhibitor of influenza virus neuraminidase, an enzyme that releases viral particles from infected cells. Neuraminidase inhibitors are commonly used to treat flu infection. Rapivab is the first neuraminidase inhibitor approved for intravenous (IV) administration and is administered as a single IV dose. It is intended for patients 18 years and older who have acute uncomplicated influenza and have shown symptoms of flu for no more than two days.

“Rapivab is the third neuraminidase inhibitor approved by the FDA to treat flu infection, but the first approved as an IV formulation,” said Edward Cox, M.D., M.P.H, director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The availability of a single-dose, intravenous option for the treatment of acute uncomplicated flu allows health care professionals and patients to have a choice based on an individual patient’s needs.”

For more details, go to: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm427755.htm