I don't feel like circumventing the WSJ paywall, so I haven't read the article. But, I do know a bit about the flu virus. I'm annoyed they refer to 'killing'

I don't feel like circumventing the WSJ paywall, so I haven't read the article. But, I do know a bit about the flu virus. I'm annoyed they refer to 'killing' the virus since the virus isn't alive and its activity is not the primary destructive issue. Over-reaction of our immune system is the vast majority of what makes people feel sick and kills them. Cytokine storms cause "flu like symptoms" and it's why so many diseases begin with them. It's not cell damage caused by cells invaded with flu virus exploding into a spray of new viral particles. That does little on its own. For years, though, people have been working on a vaccine or similar which can cause the immune system to target the virus itself rather than its 'shell' which evolves quickly and plays little role in its harm (although it may play a role in its infectivity since we see different levels of spread of different strains who differ almost entirely in the structure of their capsid). That doesn't sound like a 'pill that will kill the flu in a day' though. The only thing I can imagine is that such a pill would be a immunosuppressant that prevents the cytokine storm that makes you feel sick while (I would hope) preserving enough immune function to actually eliminate the viral particles?