The Story of Influenza Antivirals: Part 2

The Emergence of Tamiflu

The first Neuraminidase inhibitor (NI) to be licensed by its manufacturer Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham (who went on to form GSK) in 1999 was zanamivir (Relenza), an inhaled diskhaler powder. This was closely followed by oseltamivir (patented by Gilead Science and marketed by Roche) in late 1999: a capsule for oral consumption, usually three times daily.

Several other NIs are now available, but they have yet to achieve the notoriety and the profits of oseltamivir with its distinctive commercial name Tamiflu. The launch of Tamiflu was accompanied by an aggressive marketing campaign that needed to change how we understood and reacted to the “flu”.

One of the problems was that most people didn’t seek treatment. If they did, they might receive advice, suggested over-the-counter remedies and sometimes an antibiotic (which was cheap and readily available) to treat the complications. But this needed to change. As we shall see, the manufacturer needed to convince the public to chang…