St. Jude scientists have identified a mutation that would enable the influenza virus to become resistant to a promising new class of drugs.
The most advanced of these drugs were recently approved for use in Japan and are in late stage-clinical trials in the U.S. These drugs will be the first new approved class of influenza therapeutics in nearly 20 years.
“Before this study, there was limited information on the resistance pattern of this new class of drugs,” said Elena Govorkova, MD, PhD, of St. Jude Infectious Diseases.
By better understanding the resistance mutation, scientists may not only be able to engineer drugs that avoid resistance by the flu virus, but also identify and track drug resistance in treated influenza-infected patients.
A report on this research appeared in the journal mBio.
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