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Better Known as: Relenza
- Marketed By: GlaxoSmithKline
- Major Indication: Influenza Infection
- Drug Class: Neuraminidase Inhibitor
- Date of FDA Approval (Patent Expiration): 1999 (2016)
- 2009 Sales:$1.1 Billion
- Importance: It was the first neuraminidase inhibitor to be approved by the FDA, followed a few months later by Oseltamivir. Newer strains of flu virus, primarily H1N1, have developed varying levels of resistance to Oseltamivir, but a lesser extent to Zanamivir. Sales have increased dramatically since 2006 with scares of bird flu and swine flu pandemics.
- See Pharmaceutical Drugs for more information about other drugs and diseases.
Mechanism of Action
Viral Neuraminidase is one of two major glycoproteins found on the surface of influenza viral membranes, the other being hemagglutinin. When the influenza virus infects a host cell, it attaches itself to the host via hemagglutinin interactions with host glycans, fascilitating the fusion of host endosomal membrane with the viral membrane. After the virus has successfully infected the host and replicated extensively, the viral cargo is released from the cell via budding. During the budding process, the viral cargo is attached to the host cell once again via hemagglutinins, allowing the viral particle to form completely. Once the viral particle is formed, Neuraminidase cleaves the terminal sialic (neuraminic) acid residues from the glycan structures on the surface of the infected cell, breaking the hemmaglutinin-glycan interaction and promoting release of the viral particle to infect other cells. Zanamivir functions by inhibiting the function of viral neuraminidase, preventing the viral particle from being released from the infected cell, thus limiting the severity and spread of viral infections.
Pharmacokinetics
For References to Pharmacokinetic data, see: References
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References
