Abstract
Amantadine hydrochloride had a chemotherapeutic effect in patients with naturally occurring Asian influenza during the epidemic of 1967 to 1968. In double-blind clinical trials in which 54 men were treated with amantadine and 48 men received placebo capsules, more rapid defervescence and improvement of some symptoms were achieved in the drug-treated patients. The effect was demonstrable when drug therapy was started approximately 20 hours after the patients became ill. The causative virus was recovered at a high rate during the first four days of therapy in both groups which indicated that the drug did not affect virus shedding. Systemic as well as local antibody titer increases which developed in amantadine-treated patients during convalescence were equivalent to those of the placebo-treated patients.
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