A miracle cure for the flu? Don’t believe it!

“New pill kills the flu virus in 24 hours”… “Flu gone in a day”…

Last week, it seemed as if headlines like those were everywhere I looked.

ABC World News covered the story for three nights in a row!

And there was one common thread running through all of these glowing news reports: They don’t really tell us very much at all, except that some kind of miracle drug will magically be appearing in the U.S. next year to make flu history!

Honestly, the pharma-run media will feed us whatever drugmakers want them to!

But if there’s anything we’ve learned about Big Pharma, it’s that the meds it puts out to fight influenza are never quite as safe or effective as it wants us to think.

And there’s no reason to believe that this flu “cure” will be any different.

Flu be gone!

To hear the initial media reporting, you would think that this latest development will soon make all concern about the flu a thing of the past.

But what exactly is the magical new flu-fighter that a CBS story says can kill the influenza virus “faster than any drug out there”?

Most of these “reports” — which sound more like press releases — don’t even name this experimental elixir!

But I did some sleuthing… and I found that it’s called “baloxavir marboxil” (try saying that one three times fast!), also known as S-0331188.

Baloxavir comes from Japanese drugmaker Shionogi, which anticipates receiving approval for it in Japan any day now.

Of course, Shionogi, whose past blockbusters include developing the statin Crestor and the antidepressant Cymbalta, has set its sights on the FDA as well – which is likely what’s behind all of the propaganda we’ve been hearing about this flu “cure.”

But what about the claim that sounds so promising… baloxavir will “kill the flu” in a mere day?

Here’s the lowdown on that — once again, something you won’t be hearing about anywhere else.

Killing the flu in 24 hours doesn’t mean that if you get the flu on a Monday, you’re back to normal by Tuesday. What that has to do with is something called “viral load,” the measurement of how much of the virus is in your body.

In baloxavir trials, the drugmaker reported that for 200 people – around half of the study volunteers – the med reduced their influenza viral load to undetectable levels in one day.

But as far as feeling back to normal — or, returning to “pre-influenza health status,” as it’s called, it took at least five days, on average.

So much for that “24-hour” promise.

Now, that is an improvement — those taking the placebo weren’t fully back on their feet until seven days later.

Getting out of sick bay two days faster sounds good… but what price will you pay for that? And I don’t mean in dollars.

The media are handling this drug with such kid gloves that’s it’s almost as if no one dares to even bring up the question of side effects… but as I said, I did some digging for you.

And this is what I found: In trials, baloxavir caused “slightly less side effects” than what it was tested against, the current hot-selling anti-viral Tamiflu.

And that’s saying a whole lot. Because when it comes to side effects, Tamiflu has a list as long as your arm.

And if this new med runs the risk of only slightly fewer adverse events, which ones do we still have to worry about?

Might this new med cause “abnormal behavior” or “neuropsychiatric events”? I recently told you about a 16-year-old boy who took his life soon after starting up on Tamiflu, an incident that came on the heels of numerous reports linking the drug to kids hallucinations (as well as a Texas girl who attempted suicide).

What about nausea, vomiting, headache, and pain… or even a horrific condition that can cause your skin to literally peel off?

Could baloxavir cause those adverse reactions as well?

These are things we just don’t know yet… and won’t be finding out until after the “flu pill” been unleashed on millions.

Yes, it would be great to be able to pop a pill and immediately stop the flu in its tracks. However, you already have the best flu-fighter available – it’s called your immune system. And whatever you can do to keep it running well is the best way of all to stay healthy.

So, make sure to take a daily vitamin D3 supplement (around 2,000 IU), vitamin C, olive leaf extract, zinc, and some black elderberry syrup if you feel any symptoms coming on.

And once again, there’s the old standby that’s better for flu prevention than anything Big Pharma has to offer: Wash your hands often and like you really mean it!

“Flu warfare may look different next year” CNN, February 14, 2018, cnn.com