Cold to H1N1, super lozenge can fix all flus

In a breakthrough, Australian scientists have developed a drug that prepares the immune system to effectively fight all cold and flu infections, including swine flu virus.

The Veldona lozenge, which tastes like a sweet and dissolves in the mouth, prepares the immune system to attack every cold and flu virus. Chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Manfred Beilharz, who tested the drug, said, ‘‘This is the golden fleece everyone has been looking for.’’


The drug, that could be taken once a day before breakfast, would prevent everyday sniffles in otherwise healthy people and life-threatening infections in the elderly.
The lozenge contains tiny amounts of interferon alpha — a protective protein that the body naturally makes when attacked by a virus. When the lozenge dissolves in the mouth, the protein is released, tricking the immune system into thinking there is a virus in the body and gets ready for a fight, Daily Mail reported.
‘‘The outposts of the immune system say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a virus, let’s gear up and get ready for it before the infection spreads too far’,’’ said Beilharz, who has devoted 15 years to the research.
The drug has been successfully tested on mice and a government-funded human trial was recently conducted in Western Australia and its results are expected within weeks. As part of the trial, 50% of the 200 adults taking part took the lozenge once a day before breakfast and the remaining took a dummy sweet and all noted any cold and flu symptoms each week, including time off work.
If the results are positive, the drug could be made available over-the-counter in the next two years. It would cost just around Rs 9 a pill.
“This medicine is quite cheap to manufacture and very low dosage and doesn’t seem to have side-effects of any significance,” he said. Beilharz, however, does not expect the drug to completely ward off flu and cold. He believes that the symptoms would be greatly eased. “When the infection comes along, it still infects but the immune system quashes it in a couple of days. So you will have some symptoms but they will be rather mild and you will go on as normal,” he said. AGENCIES One-Stop Check
Sweet lozenge that dissolves in the mouth, to be taken once a day before breakfast, costing just about Rs 9 a pill
Primes immune system to every cold and flu bug, including winter flu, swine flu and bird flu
Could prevent lifethreatening infections in elderly or those suffering from asthma and cystic fibrosis
Contains protective protein interferon alpha, which is produced by the body naturally to fight infections When lozenge releases the protein, the immune system is tricked into thinking an infection is on
and prepares the body to fight all viruses