The Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi has developed baloxavir-marboxil, a single dose of which cures the flu in one day. The effectiveness of a drug that has not yet appeared on the market has been proven in clinical trials, according to Science Alert.
Experts conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, CAPSTONE-1, in which 1436 people with influenza took part. With such a system, not only the patients, but the experimenters themselves, during the tests do not know in which group a particular drug is used.
The volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups - one patient took 40-80 milligrams of baloxavir-marboxil once, the second received 75 milligrams of oseltamivir for five days, and the third received a placebo (control group).
The results showed that the number of patients with influenza in the first group decreased significantly compared to the second. At the same time, the time spent on the destruction of the virus in the body was just over 24 hours. Oseltamivir took 72 hours and placebo took 96 hours. In addition, treatment with the new drug resulted in a reduced risk of complications.
Shionogi will submit an application for approval of the sale of baloxavir-marboxil this year. The drug is expected to be available in 2019.