Hong Kong University Researchers Identify Promising Avian Flu Treatment

ChinaBio Today -- June 9, 2008 -- A 13-member scientific team from Hong Kong University has identified a three-drug cocktail that quadrupled the survival rate of mice with H5N1 avian flu. The cocktail combines an antiviral drug with two drugs that suppress the deadly inflammatory immune response to the virus. In the mice tests, the cocktail produced a survival rate of 53.3% and a survival time of 13.3 days. That was a four-fold improvement on using the antiviral by itself (13.3%, 8.4 days), or no treatment (0%, 6.6 days). More details...