A new study has found that a single dose of an antiviral drug called baloxavir marboxil can lower the chances of passing the flu to family members by about 30%. This research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, gives hope that we can not only treat the flu but also help stop it from spreading.
The study was led by Dr. Arnold Monto, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of Michigan. It involved a large international trial known as the CENTERSTONE study. The researchers looked at 1,457 people aged 5 to 64 who had the flu and their 2,681 family members or people living in the same house.
Some flu patients were given the antiviral pill baloxavir, while others received a placebo — a pill with no active drug. The scientists then checked if the people around them also got sick.
Baloxavir marboxil, sold under the brand name Xofluza, is already known to help people recover from the flu faster. But this study was designed to answer a different question: Can this medicine also stop the flu from spreading to others?
Dr. Monto explained that we’ve had antiviral flu drugs for a long time. These drugs can make symptoms go away faster if taken early. But until now, it wasn’t clear whether they could also prevent people from spreading the flu. This study is one of the first to focus directly on that question, and the results show that the drug can help lower transmission to people in the same household.
Dr. Adam Lauring, another researcher on the study and head of the infectious diseases division at the University of Michigan Medical School, said this research is exciting because it shows how we might use a flu drug not just to help a sick person get better, but also to protect those around them.
This could lead to a new way of managing future flu outbreaks — not just by treating illness, but by slowing the spread of the virus itself.
One of the big advantages of baloxavir is that it only needs to be taken once. Other flu medicines, like oseltamivir (also known as Tamiflu), usually need to be taken twice a day for five days. A single-dose treatment is easier for people to take and may encourage more people to use it early, which is important for stopping the spread.
Dr. Monto added that this “one-pill solution” is helpful in two ways: It shortens the time a person feels sick, which lowers the chance of complications and hospital visits, and it also reduces how much of the virus they shed — that is, how much virus they release through coughing, sneezing, or breathing. Less virus being shed means a lower chance of infecting others.
There is also some early hope that this kind of treatment could be useful for dealing with bird flu (avian influenza), especially with the rise of cases in birds and cattle. While this hasn’t been tested in animals yet, lab studies suggest that baloxavir can stop different types of flu viruses from making copies of themselves.
The research was paid for by Roche, the company that makes baloxavir, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through its advanced biomedical research agency.
In summary, this study shows that a single dose of baloxavir doesn’t just help the person who’s sick — it can also help protect those around them. By lowering the amount of virus people release, it reduces the chance of infecting family members.
While the 30% reduction is not a complete block, it’s a meaningful step forward. It gives doctors and public health experts a new tool to slow down flu outbreaks and protect both individuals and communities.
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The research findings can be found inthe New England Journal of Medicine.
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