New drug promises quicker cold symptom relief

By Daniel Q. Haney

Associated Press

CHICAGO — Scientists have developed the first medicine proven to reduce the length and severity of the common cold.

Whether this is the long-sought cure is debatable, since it doesn’t make the sniffles disappear immediately. Nevertheless, experts say there is little doubt the medicine, which is still months away from drugstores, makes people feel better sooner if their cold is caused by a rhinovirus, the most common culprit.

The drug, called pleconaril, makes a runny nose completely clear up a day sooner than usual and begins to ease the symptoms within a day.

Many over-the-counter medicines ease cold symptoms by drying up plugged noses and soothing aches. But this drug is the first to actually make a cold go away faster and to work by attacking the cold virus itself.

The findings were presented Monday by Dr. Frederick Hayden of the University of Virginia at an infectious-disease conference in Chicago sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology. The research was financed by ViroPharma Inc. of Exton, Pa., which is developing the drug.

The company applied in July to the Food and Drug Administration for approval to market the drug. A decision is still months away, perhaps longer; an FDA advisory panel is scheduled to review pleconaril next spring.

Experts say they expect the agency to be unusually cautious, because any medicine to treat a nonlethal infection in healthy people must be extremely safe.

Nevertheless, Hammer said the drug’s benefits appear significant, because a one-day reduction in a viral disease that lasts only a few days is probably the best that can be hoped for.

The company has not said how much it will charge for the medicine, which would sold by prescription under the brand name Picovir, but officials said it is likely to cost as much as antibiotics, which typically are more than $40 for a course of treatment.

The medicine attacks a large group of viruses known as the picornaviruses. Among these is the rhinovirus, the bug that causes about half of all colds.

"It really represents the first effective treatment for a rhinovirus illness," Hayden said.

The latest research is ViroPharma’s second attempt to prove that the drug speeds recovery from the common cold. Its earlier study fell short of showing a statistically significant benefit.

New studies are under way to test the drug in children who have colds as well as in college students to see if it will keep them from catching colds.

In general, Hayden said, the medicine is likely to be most useful in the spring, summer and fall, when the rhinovirus is the dominant cause of colds. Colds in the late fall and winter are more likely to result from other viruses.

Colds are the single most frequent reason why people go to the doctor. Antibiotics are worthless against colds, though doctors often prescribe them anyway.