Novel and Repurposed Antiviral Agents, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue “Novel and Repurposed Antiviral Agents”.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 represents a significant threat for humanity. It is therefore an urgent and unmet need to search for antiviral therapeutics to fight against SARS-CoV-2. Re-positioning existing antiviral agents and screening their broad-spectrum antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 is pivotal. In addition to COVID-19, many epidemic viral diseases, such as influenza, dengue, Zika, Ebola, and Western/Eastern equine encephalitis, do not yet have effective therapies. Therefore, there are very few currently available drugs to control such virulent virus infections.

Developing novel and repurposed antiviral agents is a priority for treating epidemic diseases of emerging and re-emerging viruses. Targeting viral infectivity and modulating host defense systems are recognized as the main approaches to develop direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) and host-targeting agents (HTAs). The antiviral mechanisms of antiviral candidates should be extensively analyzed among different types of viral diseases. This Special Issue will serve as a platform for the study of DAAs and HTAs, facilitating the re-positioning of existing agents, herbal components, synthesized compounds, and genetic engineering molecules. We aim to explore the abilities of repurposed antiviral agents in the hope that they may become more promising for controlling future viral epidemics.

Prof. Dr. Cheng-Wen Lin
Dr. Szu-Hao Kung
Guest Editors

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