GlaxoSmithKline begins phase III trial of influenza treatment
20 January 2011 00:00 in Pharmaceutical Company Product News
GlaxoSmithKline is beginning a phase III clinical study of a potentially promising new treatment for influenza.
The pharmaceutical company has provided the first enrolled patient with a dose of intravenous zanamivir as part of the pivotal trial, which will aim to compare the efficacy of the therapy with oral oseltamivir.
Zanamivir is licensed from the manufacturer Biota and has been marketed globally in its inhaled form since 1999, but it has yet to be approved in any countries as an intravenous treatment.
This new study will involve 462 hospitalised influenza patients by the time enrolment is concluded, with subjects set to be drawn from more than 20 nations in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
GlaxoSmithKline expects the trial to last for three years and is hoping that the new treatment will deliver a faster clinical response among users than the control drug.
Last week, the company announced that it has also begun a new phase III trial of GSK1605786, a therapy for Crohn's disease it is developing with ChemoCentryx.
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