--- title: "A New Drug Might, Possibly, Have Cured the Flu" description: "That's why doctors are excited about a new experimental treatment that could provide broad protection against many strains of the flu." date: "2019-03-09" modified: "2019-03-09" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-drug-might-cure-flu" categories: - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "flu" - "influenza" - "medicine" - "the digest" --- # A New Drug Might, Possibly, Have Cured the Flu ![That's why doctors are excited about a new experimental treatment that could provide broad protection against many strains of the flu.]() *\Image: U.S. Navy Medicine/Victor Tangermann\* ## Flu Season Influenza kills as many as [650,000 people per year]() and sickens many more — and even if you get your annual vaccine, you can still catch a flu strain it doesn't protect against. That's why doctors are excited about a new experimental treatment that could provide broad protection against many strains of the flu, [according to *NPR*](), even at levels of infection that are currently deadly. There are many caveats, including that it hasn't been tested on humans yet, but it's possible that the new molecule could be the long-awaited cure for the flu. ## Antibodies A [new paper]() in the journal *Nature* describes the treatment, which mimics the way the body naturally uses antibodies to fight viruses. "If you told me 10 years ago that we'd have a small molecule that could do this I would have been completely surprised," said Ian Wilson, a biologist at Scripps Research Institute and a co-author of the study, in an interview with *NPR*. "It's a proof-of-principle that small, manageable drugs can behave like these really powerful antibodies." ## Mouse Model The only patients to have taken the new drug so far are lab mice. But even when the mice had been exposed to lethal levels of the flu, 100 percent of the ones treated with the new treatment survived. Promisingly, according to *NPR*, the new treatment was also effective at treating human lung cells grown in the lab — potentially paving the way to human trials. "It's a really interesting study," Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who wasn't involved with the research, told *NPR*. "We need more drugs in the fight against flu, and this approach could provide them." **READ MORE:** [An Antibody-Inspired Small Molecule Could Make For A Better Flu Treatment]() \[*NPR*\] **More on the flu:** [*CRISPR Could Make You Immune to the Flu*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()