The influenza A virus contains a proton-selective ion channel (M2) that is the target of the adamantane family of drug inhibitors. Two recently published studies relating to adamantane binding of the M2 ion channel using X-ray crystallography and solution NMR have reignited interest in the potential use of adamantanes in combating the spread of influenza A. However, these two studies propose different binding sites for the adamantane drugs with the X-ray M2/ amantadine structure favoring an ion channel pore-binding model and the solution NMR M2/rimantadine structure suggesting the existence of a lipid-facing binding pocket. We conducted a series of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) experiments designed to accurately measure the affinity of amantadine and rimantadine to M2 ion channels embedded in 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-phosphocholine (DMPC) liposomes. We find that this class of drug is capable of binding M2 with two different affinities in the order of 10 −4 and 10 −7 M, suggesting that both proposed binding sites are feasible. Furthermore, by examining drug binding to M2 mutant constructs (V27A, S31N, and D44A), it was possible to probe the location of the two binding sites. We show that a high-affinity binding site corresponds to the M2 ion channel pore whereas the secondary, low-affinity binding site can be attributed to the lipid face of the pore. These SPR results are in excellent agreement with the most recent solid-state NMR study of amantadinebound M2 in lipid bilayers and provide independent support that the ion channel pore-binding site is responsible for the pharmacological activity elicited by the adamantane drugs.adamantane drug resistance | surface plasmon resonance | viral ion channel | mutational analysis A s evidenced by recent H5N1 (avian) and H1N1 (swine) influenza outbreaks, the influenza A virus poses an ever-present global threat to human health. One of the initial responses in combating this disease involves the use of antiviral drugs such as the neuraminidase inhibitors oseltamivir and zanamivir. Whereas the efficacy of these drugs is well established, another class of approved antiviral drug known as adamantane M2 inhibitors (amantadine and rimantadine) has in the past been shown to be effective in treating seasonal influenza (1). Unfortunately, the emergence of several adamantane-resistant M2 mutations has severely curtailed the effectiveness of this class of drug to the extent that the Centers for Disease Control have recommended discontinuing its use (2). However, the recent flu outbreaks have demonstrably highlighted the immense benefit of having an effective antiviral treatment at hand, thereby reigniting the search for novel M2 inhibitors (3, 4).The role of the influenza A M2 protein has been well documented. It forms a proton ion channel that operates early in the viral life cycle by facilitating the acidification of the endosomally entrapped virus, thereby enabling release of its RNA genome to allow viral replication (5). The M2 ion channel is 97 amino acids in size but it is t...