First new way to fight stubborn herpes sores in 30 years wins FDA approval

For people with weakened immune systems, cold-sore-type herpes lesions that stop responding to standard antivirals have had no good options - until now. On October 9 the US Food and Drug Administration approved HOVILPRI (pritelivir), a daily tablet that attacks the virus with a completely new mechanism: it jams the virus's helicase-primase machinery, the tiny motor the virus needs to copy itself. In a trial of 101 immunocompromised adults, 63% of treated patients saw complete healing by day 28, versus 34% on the alternatives doctors would otherwise choose. It is the first medicine with a new way of fighting the virus approved in nearly 30 years - and as a simple tablet, it spares patients the intravenous therapy that was often the only fallback.