458 Results Found

Combination therapies have become a standard for the treatment for HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. They are advantageous over monotherapies due to better efficacy, reduced toxicity, as well as the ability to prevent the development of res...

Influenza infection is serious and debilitating for humans and animals. The influenza virus undergoes incessant mutation, segment recombination, and genome reassortment. As a result, new epidemics and pandemics are expected to emerge, making the elim...

Long-acting (LA) anti-HIV regimens show promise for increasing dosing intervals and consequently, improving the patients’ quality of life. The first FDA-approved LA therapy is Cabenuva, which comprises rilpivirine (a non-nucleoside reverse tran...

Viral diseases consistently pose a substantial economic and public health burden worldwide [...]

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a pathogenic human herpesvirus associated with serious, potentially life-threatening symptoms in the immunocompromised or immunonaïve host. The limitations encountered by antiviral therapy options currently availa...

Despite the availability of currently approved antiviral drugs, infections with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) still cause clinically challenging, sometimes life-threatening situations. There is an urgent need for enhanced anti-HCMV drugs that offer im...

Combining antiviral drugs with different mechanisms of action can help prevent the development of resistance by attacking the infectious agent through multiple pathways. Additionally, by using faster and more economical screening methods, effective s...

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a human pathogenic herpesvirus associated with a variety of clinical symptoms. Current antiviral therapy is not always effective, so that improved drug classes and drug-targeting strategies are needed. Particularly hos...

Influenza viruses are respiratory pathogens that are responsible for annual influenza epidemics and sporadic influenza pandemics. Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) is currently the only FDA-approved oral drug that is available for the prevention and treatment o...

Every year, dengue virus affects hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. To date, there is no specific medication to treat dengue virus infections. Nucleobases, the base of a nucleoside without ribose, are understudied as potential treatments...

Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV), caused by a mutated form of feline coronavirus, poses a significant threat to feline health worldwide, with limited therapeutic options available. This study investigated the antiviral potential of α-...

As of June 2020, the number of people infected with severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to skyrocket, with more than 6.7 million cases worldwide. Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) has highlight...

Background: There is an urgent need for new antivirals with powerful therapeutic potential and tolerable side effects. Methods: Here, we tested the antiviral properties of interferons (IFNs), alone and with other drugs in vitro. Results: While IFNs a...

SARS-CoV-2 and its vaccine/immune-escaping variants continue to pose a serious threat to public health due to a paucity of effective, rapidly deployable, and widely available treatments. Here, we address these challenges by combining Pegasys (IFNα) a...

The effect of the antiviral peptide TAT-I24 on viral gene expression in cells infected with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) was investigated. The expression of immediate-early, early and late genes was highly induced upon infection with MCMV. In the pr...

The efficacy of aprotinin combinations with selected antiviral-drugs treatment of influenza virus and coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection was studied in mice models of influenza pneumonia and COVID-19. The high efficacy of the combinations in reducing...

The persistent evolution of SARS-CoV-2 necessitates novel antiviral strategies. This study evaluated the anti-HIV prodrugs tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) for repurposing against SARS-CoV-2, assessing key pharmacol...

The global burden of cancer necessitates rapid and ongoing development of effective cancer therapies. One promising approach in this context is the repurposing of existing non-cancer drugs for cancer indications. A key to this approach is selecting t...

Background: Enterovirus infections affect people around the world, causing a range of illnesses, from mild fevers to severe, potentially fatal conditions. There are no approved treatments for enterovirus infections. Methods: We have tested our librar...

We report the in vitro efficacy of ion-channel inhibitors amantadine, memantine and rimantadine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In VeroE6 cells, rimantadine was most potent followed by memantine and amantadine (5...

Background. The emergence, global spread, and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 resulted in an unprecedented need for effective antiviral drugs. Throughout the pandemic, various drug development and treatment strategies were adopted, including repurposing of...

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, pharmaceutical companies and research groups have focused on the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2. Here, we apply a drug repurposing strategy to identify drug candidates that are...

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic requires efficient and safe antiviral treatment strategies. Drug repurposing represents a fast and low-cost approach to the development of new medical treatment options. The direct antiviral agent remdesivir has been r...

Despite the great technological and medical advances in fighting viral diseases, new therapies for most of them are still lacking, and existing antivirals suffer from major limitations regarding drug resistance and a limited spectrum of activity. In...

Influenza viruses remain a major threat to human health. Four classes of drugs have been approved for the prevention and treatment of influenza infections. Oseltamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor, is a first-line anti-influenza drug, and baloxavir is...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a global public health burden. In addition to vaccination, safe and efficient antiviral treatment strategies to restrict the viral spread within the patient are urgently needed. An alternative approa...

Two antiviral classes, the neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) and polymerase inhibitors (baloxavir marboxil and favipiravir) can be used to prevent and treat influenza infections during seasonal epidemics and pandemics. However, prolonged treatment may...

Flaviviruses, including Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and Yellow Fever (YFV) viruses, represent a significant global health burden. The development of effective antiviral therapies against these viruses is crucial to mitigate their impact. This study i...

Given the growing number of diseases caused by emerging or endemic viruses, original strategies are urgently required: (1) for the identification of new drugs active against new viruses and (2) to deal with viral mutants in which resistance to existi...

Currently, human infections with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are accelerating the ongoing spread of the pandemic. Several innovative types of vaccines have already been developed, whereas effective options of...

Dengue is a major global health threat causing 390 million dengue infections and 25,000 deaths annually. The lack of efficacy of the licensed Dengvaxia vaccine and the absence of a clinically approved antiviral against dengue virus (DENV) drive the u...

This review summarizes the latest advancements in phytochemicals as functional antiviral agents. We focused on flavonoids, like apigenin, vitexin, quercetin, rutin and naringenin, which have shown a wide range of biological effects including antivira...

Infectious diseases caused by microbial pathogens (bacteria, virus, fungi, parasites) claim millions of deaths per year worldwide and have become a serious challenge to global human health in our century. Viral infections are particularly notable in...

Antiviral polymers are part of a major campaign led by the scientific community in recent years. Facing this most demanding of campaigns, two main approaches have been undertaken by scientists. First, the classic approach involves the development of...

My collaboration with Prof. Antonín Holý, that spans a period of 3–4 decades (1976–2012), led to the discovery of several acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs) which were clinically developed by Gilead Sciences: cidofovir,...

There are dozens of approved, investigational and experimental antiviral agents. Many of these agents cause serious side effects, which can only be revealed after drug administration. Identification of the side effects prior to drug administration is...

Oral administration of a combination of two or three antiretroviral drugs (cART) has transformed HIV from a life-threatening disease to a manageable infection. However, as the discontinuation of therapy leads to virus rebound in plasma within weeks,...

The rapid spread of the virus, the surge in the number of deaths, and the unavailability of specific SARS-CoV-2 drugs thus far necessitate the identification of drugs with anti-COVID-19 activity. SARS-CoV-2 enters the host cell and assembles a multis...

Despite numerous research efforts and several effective vaccines and therapies developed against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), drug repurposing remains an attractive alternative approach for treatment of SARS-CoV-2 variants and other viral inf...

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are DNA viruses that are common among humans. Severely immunocompromised patients are at increased risk of developing HSV or CMV disease due to a weakened immune system. Antiviral therapy can be ch...

Influenza virus infections and their associated morbidity and mortality are a major threat to global health. Vaccination is an effective influenza prevention measure; however, the effectiveness is challenged by the rapid changes in the influenza viru...

Several strategies have been developed to fight viral infections, not only in humans but also in animals and plants. Some of them are based on the development of efficient vaccines, to target the virus by developed antibodies, others focus on finding...

One of the major factors contributing to HIV-1 drug resistance is suboptimal adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Currently, recommended cART for HIV-1 treatment is a three-drug combination, whereas the pre-exposure prophylaxis (Pr...

Coxsackievirus B (CVB) infections, ranging from mild to severe diseases, lack specific antiviral treatments, underscoring the need for novel therapeutic strategies. Drug therapy is an important tool for controlling enterovirus infections, but clinica...

Combination antiviral therapy may be helpful in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, no clinical trial data are available, and combined use of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) and monoclonal antibodies (mAb) has been reported only anecdotall...

The host targeting antiviral, UV-4B, and the RNA polymerase inhibitor, molnupiravir, are two orally available, broad-spectrum antivirals that have demonstrated potent activity against SARS-CoV-2 as monotherapy. In this work, we evaluated the effectiv...

Chronic hepatitis C is a major cause of chronic liver disease, including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The development of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) revolutionized hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment by offering genuine prospects f...

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a major pathogenic herpesvirus that is prevalent worldwide and it is associated with a variety of clinical symptoms. Current antiviral therapy options do not fully satisfy the medical needs; thus, improved drug classes...

Influenza antivirals will play a critical role in the treatment of outpatients and hospitalised patients in the next pandemic. In the past decade, a number of new influenza antivirals have been licensed for seasonal influenza, which can now be consid...

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a viral disease with a high morbidity and mortality by the FIP virus (FIPV, virulent feline coronavirus). Several antiviral drugs for FIP have been identified, but many of these are expensive and not available i...