GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) Wednesday said it had begun a pivotal study testing intravenous zanamivir against Roche Holding AG's (ROG.VX) best-selling antiviral flu pill Tamiflu as a treatment for patients hospitalized with influenza.

The trial has a target enrolment of 462 patients planned in over 20 countries that take into account flu seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. The study will take approximately three years, Glaxo said in a statement.

Intravenous zanamivir is not approved for sale in any country. An inhaled version of the medicine, originally developed by Australia's Biota Holdings LTD (BTA.AU) and licenced by Glaxo, has been available since 1999 under the brand name Relenza.

Sales of antivirals Relenza and Tamiflu soared in 2009 as countries stockpiled the drug to treat people infected with the H1N1 swine flu strain.

There is now evidence flu is again spreading across the U.K. and a number of European countries, with the main circulating forms being the H1N1 strain and Influenza B.

-By Sten Stovall, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9292; sten.stovall@dowjones.com
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