Every year, you get a flu shot designed to fight the specific influenza strains expected to be most common. But what if a single injection could protect you for an entire season against *all* flu strains, without relying on your immune system to build a response? A new long-lasting antiviral drug is showing incredible promise in making this a reality.
💉 A New Approach Beyond Vaccines
Scientists have long been working on a universal flu vaccine, but even a perfect one wouldn’t protect everyone, especially older people or those with suppressed immune systems whose bodies don’t produce a strong antibody response. To address this, a biotech company named Cidara developed CD388. It’s not a vaccine; it’s a direct-acting antiviral drug called zanamivir that is already approved for treating all flu strains that infect people.
⏱️ Lingering for Months, Not Hours
Normally, zanamivir is cleared from the body in just a few hours. The brilliant innovation here is that researchers chemically modified it to **linger for months**, ready to destroy any invading flu viruses on the spot. Because it doesn’t need to engage the immune system, it should work well in people who respond poorly to traditional vaccines.
🧪 Promising Trial Results
In a trial involving 5000 people, a single high dose of CD388 showed a **76 per cent reduction** in the risk of symptomatic flu over an entire season compared to a placebo. The treatment was effective, had minimal side effects, and wouldn’t need to be updated annually to match circulating strains. This could be a simpler, more effective way to protect the most vulnerable people from the flu.
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Wong, Carissa. “One drug could fight all flu strains.” New Scientist, vol. 267, no. 3551, 12 July 2025, p. 16.
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