Journal of Pharmaceutical Research and Clinical Practice

Antiviral Drug Discovery

Great success in developing effective therapies to suppress human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) and hepatitis B virus ( HBV) has been achieved; however, therapies are not curative and therefore current efforts in the discovery of HIV and HBV drugs are directed towards longer-acting therapies and/or the development of new mechanisms of action that could potentially lead to cure or eradication of the virus. Recently exciting early clinical data for novel respiratory targeting antivirals have been reported. Preclinical data suggest that these new approaches may be effective in treating patients at high risk suffering from severe RSV or flu infections. In this review, we highlight new directions in antiviral approaches to HIV , HBV, and acute respiratory virus infections. Viruses are intracellular pathogens that have evolved many devious strategies to evade host immune responses and, as a result, have plagued human health throughout history. It's a relentless struggle to battle infectious infections with vaccinations or antiviral medications, or both. Even if effective approaches are found and deployed, the high degree of genetic modification that many viruses show, particularly RNA viruses, also allows for drug resistance or vaccine escape. This is further exacerbated by the regular emergence of new viral pathogens. The continued search for new antiviral approaches is therefore a noble cause which is critical to global human health.  

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Relevant Topics in Pharmacology,Toxicology and Pharmaceutics