New, fast-acting drug offers a novel way to combat flu virus

NEW YORK — The worst flu season in years has health professionals scrambling to find ways to combat the virus. In Japan, one company says it has developed a treatment that kills the flu in a day, and a doctor in the U.S. is exploring the use of ultraviolet light to kill the virus.

The Japanese drug is called Baloxavir, manufactured by the company Shionogi. According to the company’s most recent study, the drug gets rid of influenza much more quickly than Tamiflu, the most popular treatment in the U.S. In a late-stage trial, the median time it took Baloxavir to eliminate the disease was about a day.

But the shortened treatment time didn’t necessarily mean patients in the trial felt better sooner, a representative from Shionogi tells CBS News, explaining that the drug works differently than Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs.