42. Antiviral therapy

Questions

What are the potential targets for antiviral therapy

What are the available antiviral drugs?

In 1990, there were only five licensed antiviral drugs; in 2009 there were over 40, but mostly for the treatment of HIV and herpesviruses. This is a rapidly growing area but fundamentally the drugs mostly target the replication cycle of viruses.

The replication of viruses depends on utilizing the biochemical machinery of the host cell. Drug selectivity is, therefore, harder to achieve than with antibacterial drugs. There are, however, several aspects of the virus replication cycle that can be targeted (Fig. 3.42.1). Optimal therapy depends on rapid diagnosis, and this is particularly difficult when the virus has a long incubation period or prodrome. Latent viruses also prove relatively resistant to antiviral therapy.

Fig. 3.42.1 Targets for drug therapy in the viral replication cycle.