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The Japanese have figured out how to cure the flu in 24 hours
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Japanese pharmacists have developed a drug that successfully copes with a viral infection in just 24 hours, which is much faster than any similar antiviral drugs. A representative of the pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co said that a drug that destroys the flu
pathogen within 24 hours is ready for production. Considering that the most effective existing drug in this area copes with this task in three days, this is truly a breakthrough in medicine.
The new drug is called Baloxavir marboxil. According to the creators, in order to overcome the flu infection, it is enough to take only one dose of this drug. Agree - both convenient and profitable. Until now, the minimum course of such drugs was five days, with a frequency of taking twice a day (we are talking about one of the most common and effective drugs against flu - Oseltamivir, better known as Tamiflu). Moreover, the convenience of taking is not the only advantage. As doctors explain, early cancellation of the antiviral drug can lead to the emergence of resistance of the virus to the drug. And with the new drug, everything is much simpler: take one dose of the drug - and wait for the result.
The new drug belongs to the group of drugs-endonuclease inhibitors. Its property is to suppress the activity of endonuclease proteins, which help the viral infection spread throughout the body. Influenza viruses spread by retaining specific structures that are part of cellular RNA. Endonucleases help to "separate" part of the cell's RNA, and the infection begins to reproduce on the basis of the retained structure. If the activation of these proteins is inhibited, the cell acquires antiviral resistance.
In early 2018, scientists completed the third stage of clinical trials of this drug. Experiments involving patients with influenza demonstrated that the new drug practically does not change the duration of the symptoms of the infectious disease. But, thanks to this drug, the viruses were destroyed within 24 hours - this means, first of all, that the patient practically does not pose a danger to others the next day.
As reported in the periodical The Asahi Shimbun, the Japanese Ministry of Health has approved the right to release the new medicine. All that remains is to wait for the published permission – this should happen already in March of this year.
The media do not specify when exactly the newest anti-flu drug will go on sale, and in which countries, besides Japan, it will be available for purchase. Most likely, the Japanese will be the first to experience the drug's effect. We will observe from the sidelines how such a medicine, so necessary during mass flu outbreaks, will manifest itself.
The Internet resource Naked Science reports on the newest development.