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THERAPY

Famddovir~ in genital herpes

Twice-daily famcidovir treats recurrent genital herpes. Compared with placebo, famciclovir significantly reduced the times to cessation of viral shedding, lesion healing and resolution of all symptoms, in a US study of patients with recurrent genital herpes. 467 patients received famciclovir [Famvir~ 125, 250 or 500mg bid. or placebo, for 5 days. The study researchers comment that the twice-daily dosing is a significant advantage over current therapy for genital herpes which must be taken 5-times per day. - Media release

IIIDWID

'F amciclovir is the first new drug shown to be effective in suppressing genital herpes in more thtua 10 years " says Dr GJ Mertz of the US Collaborative Famciclovir Genital Herpes Research Group. In their study, which involved 375 women with recurrent genital herpes, the median time to recurrence of genital herpes was > 4 months among patients who received 4 months' treatment with famciclovir, compared with 2.7 months for those who received placebo. The most significant findings were shown for famciclovir 250mg bid; at this dosage the rate of recurrence during treatment was nearly 4 times slower than that for placebo. - Media release

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~ Editorial commelll: The results of these studies were presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) which was heW on 4-7 Oct 1994, in Florida, us.

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