Removal of the antiviral agent oseltamivir and its biological activity by oxidative processes

The antiviral agent oseltamivir acid (OA, the active metabolite of Tamiflu®) may occur at high concentrations in wastewater during pandemic influenza events. To eliminate OA and its antiviral activity from wastewater, ozonation and advanced oxidation processes were investigated. For circumneutral pH, kinetic measurements yielded second-order rate constants of 1.7 ± 0.1 × 105 and 4.7 ± 0.2 × 109 M−1 s−1 for the reaction of OA with ozone and hydroxyl radical, respectively. During the degradation of OA by both oxidants, the antiviral activity of the treated aqueous solutions was measured by inhibition of neuraminidase activity of two different viral strains. A transient, moderate (two-fold) increase in antiviral activity was observed in solutions treated up to a level of 50% OA transformation, while for higher degrees of transformation the activity corresponded to that caused exclusively by OA. OA was efficiently removed by ozonation in a wastewater treatment plant effluent, suggesting that ozonation can be applied to remove OA from wastewater.

► Oseltamivir acid (OA) is oxidized by ozone and hydroxyl radical.
► Kinetics: We determined rate constants for the reaction with these oxidants.
► The specific activity of OA as neuraminidase inhibitor disappeared during oxidation.
► Ozonation and advanced oxidation can effectively remove OA from wastewaters.