Open AccessAntiviral Drug Discovery To Address the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author(s) -
Douglas D. Richman
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
mbio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.562
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 2161-2129
pISSN - 2150-7511
DOI - 10.1128/mbio.02134-20
Subject(s) - pandemic , drug discovery , covid-19 , antiviral drug , virology , population , drug development , drug , global population , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , medicine , virus , biology , bioinformatics , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pharmacology , environmental health , pathology , outbreak
The magnitude of the morbidity and mortality inflicted upon the global population in less than 1 year has driven the inescapable conclusion that the discovery and development of effective antiviral drugs for COVID-19 are urgent and should be prioritized. The antiviral drug discovery programs that emerged for HIV and hepatitis C virus have enabled technology and expertise to accelerate this process for SARS-CoV-2. The description of candidate lead inhibitors for the viral main protease (M pro ) exemplifies this accelerated approach and reminds us of the needs and opportunities for addressing this pandemic.