Recent Advances in Developing Antiviral Therapies for Respiratory Syncytial Virus

• Published in: Topics in current chemistry (2016) 2017-04, Vol.375 (2), Article 40
• Main Authors: Shook, Brian C., Lin, Kai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiviral Drug Research; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Life Sciences; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Physics; Review
• ISSN: 2365-0869; 2364-8961
• DOI: 10.1007/s41061-017-0129-4

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection presents a significant health challenge in small children, the elderly and immunocompromised patients. There is still a high unmet medical need among patients with RSV infection, and no specific antiviral therapy is available. The only approved agents are palivizumab, which has to be given prophylactically, mainly in high-risk infants, and ribavirin, which is rarely used due to toxicity concerns and questionable benefits. Efforts to develop new antiviral agents have been hampered by the perceived need for high safety hurdles in pediatric patient populations use and the lack of well-characterized druggable targets. Despite these challenges, significant progress has been made in discovering multiple classes of inhibitors targeting various stages of the viral life cycle. Several recent proof-of-concept human studies with specific antivirals have shown promising results and completely reinvigorated the field. In this review we discuss the current status of RSV drug development, remaining challenges and future directions.