A Lake Travis-area health care and clinical research facility, Austin Regional Clinic, is involved in a global study for a new antiviral drug called Xofluza that may limit the impact of types A and B of the influenza virus. Researchers are hopeful it will be available in the U.S. in 2019. The timing is important locally after Travis County’s deadly 2017-18 flu season claimed a record 49 lives, according to public health data. Xofluza was developed by Roche and Shionogi and Co. and was approved for use in Japan in February. “On the specialty side [of ARC’s business in partnership with a group called MediSync] we started doing clinical research in rheumatology to give our patients options for treatment.” Dr. Anurekha Chadha, medical director of ARC’s clinical research department told Community Impact Newspaper. “There are people who don’t respond to what is [already] on the market, and they’re stuck in this pattern where the disease is still active. These new medications have to be studied to prove they are effective.” To date the ARC facility located at Wilson Parke Avenue off N. RM 620 contributed data last winter from one subject with underlying health conditions who was showing flu symptoms. ARC has been among several sites nationally enrolling patients in the clinical trial. “It’s super exciting for me only because this is really how you advance medicine.” Chadha said. “Like most studies this one has strict guidelines on how high your temperature has to be and how soon the symptoms are caught,” Chadha said. “Once they’re eligible there’s a chance [the patient] receives a placebo. But they are being seen every day and can always be pulled out by the investigator if they’re not improving.” Also notable, molecular biology research conducted locally at the University of Texas is behind the original discovery in 1979 that led French scientists to create Xofluza. Dr. Robert Krug, professor at the Center for Infectious Disease at UT’s Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology, said the new drug acts at the first step of a flu virus by copying itself onto healthy cells and shutting that process down. Tamiflu stops the release of existing viruses from the cell membrane only after replication. “The beauty of the new drug is that as soon as you give it, virus replication stops. Within a day you have an enormous reduction in virus shedding (replication), so you’re cutting down virus transmission,” Krug said. Health officials point out antivirals like Tamiflu and Xofluza can help stop the spread of an infection. However, they cannot take the place of vaccines.