The Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), one of China's top drug research institutions, has obtained clinical trial approval from China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for an anti-bird flu drug.
The drug, Zanamivir, which is a kind of sialic acid depressants for influenza virus, is used to treat influenza caused by Influenza Virus A. It changes the virus' aggregation and spread in infected cells by depressing the neuraminidase in the virus.
Zanamivir is currently the second effective anti-bird flu drug in the world besides Oseltamivir. The drug is developed associated by SIMM, Nanjing Simcere Dongyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Nanjing Yifang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., leading by Jiang Hualiang and Shen Jingkang, vice presidents of SIMM.
