Upcoming drugs to fight H1N1 virus

Expected early next year, anti-virus drugs H1N1, H5N1, SARS produced by Vietnam will be available on the market, lower prices Tamiflu 4 - 5 times.

Recently, many hospitals have found it difficult to use Tamiflu for adults to treat children. To overcome this, the Drug Administration has ordered 1 million tablets of Tamiflu for children at a concentration of 30 mg.

On November 29, the research team on treatment of influenza products at Hanoi University of Pharmacy announced that it has completed the process of studying the stability and the production process of Arbidol (Fludon H1), the antiviral drugs have the effect Treatment of influenza A (H1N1), H5N1, similar to Tamiflu and Zanamivir.

Many studies have shown that Arbidol has a higher therapeutic effect and resistance rates are also lower than some other drugs. When licensed by the Ministry of Health, it is expected that in early 2010, the drug will be available in Vietnam market with cheaper price than Tamiflu 4 - 5 times. This will be the first drug of Vietnam to work against H1N1, H5N1, SARS influenza virus.

On the same day, the Ministry of Health said that the ministry had sent a document to the World Health Organization (WHO) for an official opinion on 1.2 million doses of vaccine against influenza A (H1N1). This is the number of vaccines sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company (GSK) to Vietnam through WHO. Recently in Canada, two batches of the A (H1N1) vaccine produced by the company have been suspended from circulation because of quality doubts. Therefore, the Ministry of Health recommended the WHO to transfer a batch of aid vaccines or change vaccines to ensure safety for users.