New Way to Find Quick and Effective Treatments for Severe Flu

Although many people with flu get better on their own without needing hospital treatment, it can make some people seriously ill and even be life-threatening. A new national trial launched aims to use pandemic lessons to help quickly find effective treatments for people hospitalized with severe flu. There may be record numbers of flu cases this winter, and there is no clear evidence about which treatments are best for severe cases.

The £2.9 million REMAP-CAP trial will work with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)  to recruit children and adults hospitalized with severe flu from 150 hospitals across the UK over the next two years.

This is the first time a trial of this kind will be used for the flu. The REMAP-CAP trial was originally set up to tackle pandemics. It is exactly two years since REMAP-CAP showed in COVID-19 how reducing inflammation with the drug tocilizumab can save lives in severely ill patients.

New Trial to Find Best Drugs for Treating Flu

The trial is designed to provide answers quickly by using a robust yet rapid approach to test multiple treatments at the same time in thousands of people. The trial will be highly adaptive, allowing the team to learn quickly from early results and ensure people are given treatments that show encouraging results as soon as possible.

During the pandemic, the trial was able to rapidly respond to a new virus and our approach helped save lives. Now redeploying it against a known threat. Flu is very infectious and can make children, the elderly, and vulnerable people seriously unwell in some cases.

This winter, we might see more flu cases than usual as the virus potentially resurges after pandemic measures have kept levels low. Researchers hope that this trial will help to find urgently needed flu treatments rapidly.

The COVID-19 trial changed clinical practice globally, in the same way, researchers are hoping this trial can impact flu treatment and reduce winter pressures on the NHS in the same way.

Advertisement

Running for two years (in the first instance), the trial aims to recruit several thousand people and will test multiple treatments. These include the anti-viral treatments oseltamivir (also known as Tamiflu) and baloxavir, as well as steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs that were found to be effective against COVID-19 in the original REMAP-CAP trial More treatments may be added in the future.

The trial will be open to adults, children, and babies over the age of one month who are hospitalized with severe flu. Children and babies will receive lower treatment doses than adults.

Advertisement

Taking part in research saves lives and benefits us all, both now and in the future. So, encourage everyone to be part of the research.



Source-Eurekalert