The new drug will be most valuable for people who don't get a flu shot or who need extra protection because they are weak or sick, he says. Kristin Nichol, MD, chief of medicine at the VA medical center in Minneapolis, tells WebMD that oseltamivir is one of several drugs that should greatly improve doctors' ability to fight the flu in the coming years. Relenza, the inhaled drug, is another, she says. And a third is an experimental flu vaccine that can be inhaled instead of injected. Nichol says that after several decades without any new drugs for the flu, it's gratifying to have several on the horizon.
Influenza is a much nastier disease than a lot of people realize.
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