J&J dengue pill may save millions of lives. Johnson & Johnson reported encouraging findings from a small human challenge study of their dengue fever medication.
Dengue fever is a rapidly spreading disease with no particular treatments currently available. Five days before being exposed to dengue, ten volunteers were given a high dose of the J&J tablet. They took the medication for another 21 days following the exposure.
Over the course of 85 days, six of these subjects had no detectable dengue virus in their blood and no evidence of an immunological response to the virus.
This antiviral medication is a big advancement because there have previously been no particular medicines for dengue.
Also read: Ways to protect oneself from Dengue fever
Dengue fever is common in Asia and Latin America, where it causes millions of infections and tens of thousands of deaths each year.
The study results are promising, and the pill will now be tested as a treatment. The medicine works by preventing the virus from replicating itself by blocking the action of two viral proteins.
As J&J dengue pill may save millions of lives, access to this new medicine, if it proves successful on a bigger scale, would be crucial especially in low- and middle-income nations where dengue fever is common.
This is similar to the difficulties encountered by the dengue vaccine, which was approved by the World Health Organisation earlier this month.
Johnson & Johnson is striving to remedy this problem, but it is still in its early phases.
Dengue fever is projected to spread further as a result of climate change, making it critical to create effective therapies.
