Targets for the Design of Antiviral Agents

This pUblication contains the Review Lectures presented at a joint NATO Advanced Study Institute and FEES Advanced Study Course held at Les Arcs, Bourg-8aint-Maurice, France, from the 19th June - 2nd July 1983. The Course, entitled "Targets for the Design of Antiviral Agents" was in some ways a sequel to the NATO-FEES Course held at SOGESTA (near Urbino), Italy from the 7th - 18th May 1979 and published as volume A26 in this series. During the subsequent four years, we have witnessed the first of the "new generation" of antiviral compounds, which are more efficacious and less toxic than the "classical" antiviral drugs, reach the clinic and we felt that it w~s the right time to assess the future prospects of this verY important and exciting field. The vast majority of the drugs developed recently have proved active against various members of the herpesvirus family and elsewhere in this publication we learn that the cure for only rather few viral diseases, such as the common cold, influenza and herpes, promises the return on investment required by the pharmaceutical industry. However, the aim of this Course was for eminent virologists to identify possible targets among the various virus classes against which the chemists could then design suitable therapeutic agents. Recent advances with antiherpesvirus drugs have shown that a far greater selectivity and therapeutic index can be obtained than was previously thought to be possible.

Autorentext
Erik De Clercq, M.D., PhD is currently President of the Rega Foundation, a member of the Belgian (Flemish) Royal Academy of Medicine and of the Academia Europaea, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is an active Emeritus Professor of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven), Belgium. He is honorary doctor of the Universities of Ghent, Belgium, Athens, Greece, Ferrara, Italy, Jinan (Shandong), China, Charles (Prague), Czech Republic, and Jihoceska (Bude?jovice), Czech Republic.
For his pioneering efforts in antiviral research, Professor De Clercq received in 1996 the Aventis award from the American Society for Microbiology, and in 2000 the Maisin Prize for Biomedical Sciences from the Belgian National Science Foundation. In 2008 he was elected Inventor of the Year by the European Union. Together with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Prof. De Clercq received the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in 2010.
He is the (co)inventor of a number of antiviral drugs, used for the treatment of HSV (valaciclovir, Valtrex , Zelitrex ), VZV (brivudin, Zostex , Brivirac , Zerpex ), CMV (cidofovir, Vistide ), HBV (adefovir dipivoxil, Hepsera ), and HIV infections (AIDS) (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, Viread ).

Inhalt
Overview of the Possible Targets for Viral Chemotherapy.- Viral Targets.- Herpesvirus Target Considerations for the Design of Antiviral Agents.- Picornaviruses and Togaviruses: Target for Design of Antivirals.- Targets in Negative Strand RNA Viruses (Excluding Ortho- and Paramyxoviruses.- Targets for the Design of Antiviral Agents: Targets in Orthomyxoviruses.- Biologic and Chemotherapeutic Forays into the Field of Unconventional Viruses.- Antiviral Compounds.- Anti Influenza Virus Activity of Amantadine, Rimantadine and Analogues.- Antiviral Action of 2-(?-Hydroxybenzyl)-benzimidazole (HBB).- Antirhinovirus Drugs.- Pyrimidine Nucleoside Analogues as Antiviral Agents.- Purine Nucleoside Analogs as Antiviral Agents.- Strategies in the Design of Oligonucleotides as Potential Antiviral Agents.- Oligopeptides as Specific Antiviral Agents.- Virus Associated DNA Polymerizing Activities: Their Role in Designing Antiviral and Antitumor Agents.- Conclusion.- Antiviral Agents: Why Not a Penicillin for Viral Infections?.- Participants.