News tagged with antiviral drugs
Pharmaceutical advances offer new options for health outcomes
Research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) explores pharmaceutical advances for treating irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and hepatitis C.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 20, 2013 |
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Researchers find potential novel treatment for influenza
An experimental drug has shown promise in treating influenza, preventing lung injury and death from the virus in preclinical studies, according to University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers publishing in the journal ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 01, 2013 |
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New drug stimulates immune system to kill infected cells in animal model of hepatitis B infection
A novel drug developed by Gilead Sciences and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio suppresses hepatitis B virus infection by stimulating the immune system and inducing loss of ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 26, 2013 |
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Novel therapeutic approaches to cure chronic HBV infection
Exciting new data presented today at the International Liver Congress 2013 include results from early in vitro and in vivo studies targeting covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), which may form the basis of a cure for ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 25, 2013 |
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Computer program identifies rare mutations harbored within diverse populations of cancer cells and microorganisms
A tumor is not a uniform mass of identical cells. However, teasing apart genetic heterogeneity within a biopsied tumor can be difficult. Researchers often fail to tell the difference between a rare variant ...
Cancer
Apr 24, 2013 |
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Treatment for novel coronavirus shows promise in early lab tests
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists studying an emerging coronavirus have found that a combination of two licensed antiviral drugs, ribavirin and interferon-alpha 2b, can stop the virus from replicating ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 18, 2013 |
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Improved molecular tools streamline influenza testing and management
Over 40,000 people die each year in the United States from influenza-related diseases. In patients whose immune systems are compromised, antiviral therapy may be life-saving, but it needs to be initiated quickly. It is therefore ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 17, 2013 |
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Half of Tamiflu prescriptions weren't taken in 2009 swine flu pandemic
Around half the antiviral drug Tamiflu that was prescribed during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic was never used, researchers have discovered.
Medications
Apr 17, 2013 |
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Research reveals how antibodies neutralize mosquito-borne virus
Researchers have learned the precise structure of the mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus pathogen while it is bound to antibodies, showing how the infection is likely neutralized.
Medical research
Apr 02, 2013 |
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Pain reliever naproxen shows anti-viral activity against flu
The over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug naproxen may also exhibit antiviral activity against influenza A virus, according to a team of French scientists. The finding, the result of a structure-based investigation, is ...
Medications
Mar 21, 2013 |
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Findings to help in design of drugs against virus causing childhood illnesses
New research findings may help scientists design drugs to treat a virus infection that causes potentially fatal brain swelling and paralysis in children.
Medical research
Mar 21, 2013 |
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Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV
(Medical Xpress)—Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers at Washington University School of ...
HIV & AIDS
Mar 08, 2013 |
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Fatty acids could lead to flu drug
Flu viruses are a major cause of death and sickness around the world, and antiviral drugs currently do not protect the most seriously ill patients. A study published March 7th by Cell Press in the journal Cell reveals that a ...
Medical research
Mar 07, 2013 |
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HIV 'cure' in infancy, caution experts
AIDS experts cautioned Monday against hype of a cure after doctors in the United States suppressed HIV in a child born with the virus by administering a potent drug cocktail shortly after birth. ...
HIV & AIDS
Mar 04, 2013 |
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Bird flu virus research awaits approval
A bird flu virus at the center of an international debate sits in a padlocked freezer, deep inside a University of Wisconsin-Madison lab, waiting for new government guidelines that will allow researchers to continue unlocking ...
Medical research
Mar 01, 2013 |
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Antiviral drug
Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections. Like antibiotics for bacteria, specific antivirals are used for specific viruses. Unlike antibiotics, antiviral drugs do not destroy their target pathogen but inhibit their development.
Antiviral drugs are one class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes antibiotic, antifungal and antiparasitic drugs. They are relatively harmless to the host, and therefore can be used to treat infections. They should be distinguished from viricides, which are not medication but destroy virus particles outside the body.
Most of the antivirals now available are designed to help deal with HIV, herpes viruses (best known for causing cold sores and genital herpes, but actually causing a wide range of diseases), the hepatitis B and C viruses, which can cause liver cancer, and influenza A and B viruses. Researchers are working to extend the range of antivirals to other families of pathogens.
Designing safe and effective antiviral drugs is difficult, because viruses use the host's cells to replicate. This makes it difficult to find targets for the drug that would interfere with the virus without harming the host organism's cells.
The emergence of antivirals is the product of a greatly expanded knowledge of the genetic and molecular function of organisms, allowing biomedical researchers to understand the structure and function of viruses, major advances in the techniques for finding new drugs, and the intense pressure placed on the medical profession to deal with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of the deadly acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic.
Almost all anti-microbials, including anti-virals, are subject to drug resistance as the pathogens mutate over time, becoming less susceptible to the treatment. For instance, a recent study published in Nature Biotechnology emphasized the urgent need for augmentation of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) stockpiles with additional antiviral drugs including zanamivir (Relenza) based on an evaluation of the performance of these drugs in the scenario that the 2009 H1N1 'Swine Flu' neuraminidase (NA) were to acquire the tamiflu-resistance (His274Tyr) mutation which is currently wide-spread in seasonal H1N1 strains.
For more information about Antiviral drug, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
