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Increased Survival after Gemfibrozil Treatment of Severe Mouse Influenza

Alison Budd,^1, Lisa Alleva,^1, Mohammed Alsharifi,² Aulikki Koskinen,² Victoria Smythe,² Arno Müllbacher,² Jeff Wood,³ and Ian Clark^1*

School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,¹ John Curtin School of Medical Research,² Statistical Consulting Unit, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia³

Received 13 February 2007/ Returned for modification 29 March 2007/ Accepted 24 May 2007

Gemfibrozil, an agent that inhibits production of proinflammatory cytokines in addition to its clinically useful lipid-lowering activity, increased survival in BALB/c mice that were already ill from infection by influenza virus A/Japan/305/57 (H2N2). Gemfibrozil was administered intraperitoneally once daily from days 4 to 10 after intranasal exposure to the virus. Survival increased from 26% in vehicle-treated mice (n = 50) to 52% in mice given gemfibrozil at 60 mg/kg/day (n = 46) (P = 0.0026). If this principle translates to patients, a drug already approved for human use, albeit by a different route for another purpose, might be adapted relatively fast for use against influenza, conceivably including human infection with a derivative of the avian H5N1 strain.

Published ahead of print on 11 June 2007.

A.B. and L.A. contributed equally to this study.