Therapeutic Efficacy of Amantadine HCl and Rimantadine HCl in Naturally Occurring Influenza A2 Respiratory Illness in Man

Efficacy and Safety of the Neuraminidase Inhibitor Zanamivir in the Treatment of Influenzavirus Infections

“…The magnitude of the clinical benefit observed in this study appears to be at least as great as that in earlier trials of amantadine and rimantadine for acute febrile influenza A illness in adults. [17][18][19][20] In addition, as predicted by the results of in vitro studies, 8,9 tests in animal models, 8,10 and experimental studies in humans, 21 the antiviral spectrum and clinical effectiveness of zanamivir included influenza B virus infections.…”

Viroporins: structure, function and potential as antiviral targets

“…Amantadine was licensed for the treatment of IAV in the 1960s (Baker et al, 1969;Davies et al, 1964;Sabin, 1967;Togo et al, 1968;Wingfield et al, 1969), yet its target and mode of action remained unknown until the mid-1980s; selection of resistance to amantadine-mediated inhibition…”

“…Amantadine was one of the first antiviral agents to be licensed for the treatment of influenza A virus (IAV) in the 1960s (Anonymous, 1969;Couch, 1969;Davies et al, 1964;Dawkins et al, 1968;Sabin, 1967;Togo et al, 1968;Wingfield et al, 1969), yet it was not until the mid-1980s when the target for its mode of action was discovered to be the M2 protein (Hay et al, 1985). Even then, it was several more years until the channel-forming activity of M2 was demonstrated (Pinto et al, 1992) and the mechanisms underpinning how its proton channel activity related to the requirement for M2 function at early and, in some strains, late stages of the virus life cycle became apparent.…”

Discovery of Novel Antiviral Agents Directed Against the Influenza A Virus Nucleoprotein

“…Two classes of drugs including adamantanes (amantadine and rimantadine) and NA inhibitors (oseltamivir, zanamivir, peramivir, and laninamivir) are available for the treatment of the influenza infection (Kubo et al, 2010;Vanvoris et al, 1981;Wingfiel et al, 1969;Yamashita, 2011). Because the adamantanes exert several toxic effects on the central nervous system (Bryson et al, 1980;Keyser et al, 2000) and also because of the emergence of resistant variants (Bright et al, 2005(Bright et al, , 2006, the use of these drugs is limited.…”