BCRX BioCryst Pharm: Life-saving H1N1 drug unavailable to most - CBS News (9.77 )

CBS News reports new doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine will arrive across the country this week. But what about those who are already infected? The virus can make healthy people suddenly very ill. Some doctors say they'd use an experimental drug to help rescue patients on the brink - if only they were allowed, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. Last month, 51-year-old John Boudrot was so sick from the H1N1 virus he was in intensive care, on a ventilator and suffering organ failure. Not in 30 years of practice had his doctor seen a patient decline so quickly - from perfect health to the doorstep of death. "He was going on a curve like this," said Dr. Robin Dretler, indicating a steep decline. "Life in immediate danger." As a last resort, Dretler got the FDA's permission to try a promising, but still experimental, drug called Peramivir... Sure enough, four days after John Boudrot got Peramivir he began to improve. "I am a lucky son of gun to be here, no question about it," Boudrot said. Dretler said he strongly believes it was Peramivir that made the difference. The FDA tells CBS News that it has approved 20 similar requests for experimental Peramivir nationwide under laws allowing the "compassionate use" of unapproved drugs. Patient records are not public, but an unofficial CBS News count found at least eight critically ill patients who recovered or are still recovering on Peramivir. The website found two who died.