saudi firm develops anti-swine flu drug

RIYADH – The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has approved the first Saudi produced anti-swine flu drug which has now been officially registered by the Saudi Ministry of Health, according to a UPI report Tuesday.
SFDA vice president Saleh Bawazir described the “Osilta” drug as the “first anti–swine flu drug in the world”, saying it was only available by prescription to persons infected by swine flu.
“The drug,” Bawazir was quoted as saying, “is 30 percent cheaper than previously used drugs.”
Khalid Al-Zamil, the assistant general manager of the company producing the drug, said that it was used to tackle the virus during the first few days of infection and not for prevention. Researchers, he said, began working on it since the first case of swine flu was announced.
The drug has been on the market since the end of last month and the Ministry of Health has been contacted in order to supply hospitals, according to Al-Zamil, who cited the drug as having a factory price of 91 riyals and said it would be made available to GCC countries.
Al-Zamil said the “phosphate Osilta attacks the virus enzymes which are the sugar proteins on the surface of the virus to stop the virus spreading in the infected body.”
Tawfiq Khouja, director general of the executive office of the GCC Council of Health Ministers, told UPI that tests had shown Osilta to be effective in fighting the virus. – SG