Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Peramivir for H1N1 (emergency use only)


The FDA has authorized the emergency use of intravenous (IV) peramivir for H1N1 in certain patients and settings. Here's the summary from the FDA:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that, in response to a request from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational antiviral drug peramivir intravenous (IV) in certain adult and pediatric patients with confirmed or suspected 2009 H1N1 influenza infection who are admitted to a hospital.
Specifically, IV peramivir is authorized only for hospitalized adult and pediatric patients for whom therapy with an IV drug is clinically appropriate, based on one or more of the following reasons:
  1. the patient is not responding to either oral or inhaled antiviral therapy, or
  2. when drug delivery by a route other than an intravenous route -- e.g., enteral (absorbed by the intestines) or inhaled -- is not expected to be dependable or feasible;
  3. for adults only, when the clinician judges IV therapy is appropriate due to other circumstances.
According to Wikipedia: Peramivir is an experimental antiviral drug being developed by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of influenza.

For more information, see http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/eua/ or call 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636).

To read the FDA press release about peramivir, click here.

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