Famvir®, which is manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, is the first antiviral medication approved to treat recurrent genital herpes in a single day. “This is a significant advance for patients with recurrent genital herpes who do not want to take regular suppressive medication,” stated Lynn Barclay, President of the American Social Health Association. “For people who know when a recurrence is starting, this treatment program should be extremely helpful.”

The clinical studies of one-day therapy with famciclovir on people with recurrent genital herpes showed that the time for healing of the herpes sores and the time for symptoms such as pain, burning, and itching to resolve was significantly shortened by almost two days compared with placebo. In addition, of people who had prodrome symptoms and took the treatment, more than 1 out of 5 did not progress to an outbreak of skin lesions.

An important aspect of the one-day treatment, however, is that the first dose of famciclovir must be taken as soon as possible (within six hours) of the first sign or symptom of an outbreak (prodrome). With cold sores, treatment needs to be started within one hour of the first sign of symptoms (tingling, itching or burning). The studies were all done on people with normal immune systems.

The new approved dosage for recurrent genital herpes is a 1,000 mg dose taken twice for one day. The approved dosage of famciclovir for cold sores (recurrent oral herpes) is a single 1,500 mg dose.

Famciclovir (Famvir®) is a prescription medication. If you have recurrent genital herpes or cold sores, talk with your doctor or health care provider about whether this medication might be useful for you.

You can learn more about genital herpes from the website of the American Social Health Association (ASHA)