A lozenge designed to fight off all cold and flu bugs has been created by scientists. It would be taken once a day before breakfast and would cost only 20p a day. The lozenge could be sold over-the-counter in as little as two years.
It would prime the immune system to attack every cold and flu bug including 'normal' winter flu, swine flu and bird flu.
The lozenge, which tastes like a sweet and dissolves in the mouth, could be used to clear up sniffles in healthy people and prevent life-threatening infections in the elderly and in asthma and cystic fibrosis sufferers.
It has already been tested on people and the first results are due within weeks.
Researcher Professor Manfred Beilharz said: 'This is the golden fleece everyone has been looking for.'
The Veldona lozenge contains tiny amounts of interferon alpha, which was nicknamed the 'Crown jewel' of virology when it was discovered 50 years ago.
Interferon alpha is a protective protein that the body naturally makes when attacked by a virus. When the lozenge dissolves in the mouth, the protein is released and the immune system is tricked into thinking there is a bug nearby and gets ready for a fight.
Professor Beilharz, who has devoted 15 years to the research, said: '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."'
The professor has already shown that very low doses of the protein can save the lives of mice exposed to an otherwise lethal cocktail of the flu virus.
These 'stunning' results prompted a government-funded trial of the lozenge on 200 adults in Western Australia.
Half took the lozenge once a day before breakfast, half took a dummy sweet and all noted any cold and flu symptoms each week, including time off work.
If the results are good, the lozenges, which were developed by U.S. firm Amarillo Biosciences, could be fast-tracked onto pharmacy shelves within two to three years.
They could be taken year-round, but people are most likely to rely on them over the winter.
Professor Beilharz, chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Western Australia in Perth, expects them to be sold over-the-counter, rather than on prescription, and to be much cheaper than current anti-flu drugs.
Tamiflu, which has been stockpiled by governments around the world to treat swine and bird flus, costs up to £5 a tablet. The lozenges could cost as little as 20p each, or £6 a month.
Professor Beilharz said: 'This medicine is quite cheap to manufacture and very low dosage and doesn't seem to have any side-effects of any significance.'
Unlike the flu vaccine, which has to be frequently reformulated to fight whichever strains of the bug are circulating, it would be a 'one-size-fits all' drug.
This is because interferon alpha primes the immune system to fight a range of viruses, including all cold and flu bugs.
The professor said: 'The vaccine is only good for a particular variant and there may have to be another one the next year, whereas our little baby is not just good against influenza, it is good against all winter cold variants.'
The professor does not expect the drug to completely ward off flus and colds, but symptoms will be greatly eased.
He said: '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.'
Interferon alpha was used by the Russians to treat colds and flus during the Cold War but never took off elsewhere. But injections of much higher doses are used to treat diseases, including multiple sclerosis.
Professor Hugh Pennington, Britain's leading microbiologist, cautioned that the side-effects of interferon could be worse than the flu itself.
But he added: 'If you can work out the right dose and the right kind of interferon so people don't feel grotty, and it works, it will be a real breakthrough. So let's wait and see.'
source: dailymail
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