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news.BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has initiated a phase II trial of peramivir, its lead influenza neuraminidase inhibitor, to determine the safety and efficacy of an intramuscular formulation of the drug in patients with influenza.
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Peramivir is in clinical development for the treatment of seasonal and potentially life-threatening human influenza. Two different doses of peramivir will be tested.
“The safety and antiviral activity observed in previous studies indicate that injectable peramivir may be a valuable therapy in the treatment of acute influenza,” said Claude Bennett, COO of BioCryst.
Funding for this trial will come from the US Department of Health and Human Services which has awarded BioCryst a $102.6 million, four-year contract to develop peramivir for the treatment of seasonal and pandemic influenza towards US-licensure.
In laboratory tests peramivir has been shown to be more potent than, and with activity against viral strains that are resistant to currently available neuraminidase inhibitors. Injectable formulations of peramivir have been shown to be safely administered at high dose levels to subjects and, in preclinical studies, peramivir has been shown to promote survival in animals infected with highly pathogenic strains of the H5N1 virus.