Strong results for Novartis' Famvir

Swiss drug major Novartis says that new data presented at the American Academy of Dermatology's annual meeting, held in San Francisco, California, demonstrated that a single dose of its prescription antiviral Famvir (famciclovir tablets), given to patients with recurrent cold sores at the onset of symptoms, resulted in "significant improvements in healing time and resolution of pain and tenderness."

Novartis noted that this is the first study of its kind to show the benefit of administering a full course of antiviral therapy in a single dose when the virus is most active. A second study, also presented at the AAD meeting, showed that the agent is the first and only antiviral, which demonstrated that a single day of therapy is effective in the treatment of recurrent genital herpes. Based on these findings, Novartis filed a supplemental New Drug Application in the fall of 2005, with the US Food and Drug Administration for single-dose Famvir as a treatment for recurrent herpes labialis in immunocompetent patients and as a single-day Famvir regimen for immunocompetent patients with recurrent genital herpes.