Flu Virus (Source: CDC)

FDA ex­pands Xofluza ap­proval as Roche strug­gles to catch loom­ing flu mar­ket

As a po­ten­tial­ly pow­er­ful flu sea­son looms, so does a big test for Roche and its new flu drug, Xofluza. The Swiss gi­ant just got a small boost in ad­vance of that test as the FDA ex­pand­ed Xofluza’s in­di­ca­tion to in­clude pa­tients at high risk of de­vel­op­ing flu-re­lat­ed com­pli­ca­tions.

Xofluza (balox­avir mar­box­il) was ap­proved last Oc­to­ber in the US, the first land­mark flu drug ap­proval in 20 years and a much-need­ed green light for a com­pa­ny that had watched its lead­ing flu drug Tam­i­flu get eat­en alive by gener­ics. Like its pre­de­ces­sor, the pill of­fered a re­duc­tion in flu symp­toms but not a cure.

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