China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Nanoparticle Synthesis and Administration Routes for Antiviral Uses
Published in Devarajan Thangadurai, Saher Islam, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Viral and Antiviral Nanomaterials, 2022
João Augusto Oshiro-Júnior, Kammila Martins Nicolau Costa, Isadora Frigieri, Bruna Galdorfini Chiari-Andréo
Antivirals were developed basically to inhibit the virus genome replication within infected cells, thus preventing the production of new virus particles. The use of nanomaterials has proven to be useful for ameliorating the pharmacological properties of inhibitors of viral genome replication, including improvement in the circulation time of these substances impacting the effectiveness time. Therefore, the use of nanomaterials is advantageous in helping to treat existing viral infections and to prevent these infections, being finally a subject to be explored (Gelman and Glenn 2011; Jackman et al. 2016, 2020).
Conclusion
Published in Peri J. Ballantyne, Kath Ryan, Living Pharmaceutical Lives, 2021
Consideration of the explicit negative effects of some types of pharmaceuticals must be central to any discussion of ‘living pharmaceutical lives’. For example, irrespective of the effectiveness of opioid analgesics for pain management, their negative effects are the particular focus in Cooper’s discussion of stigma, shame and identity-disrupting effects of using them. Similarly, Balogun-Katung and colleagues emphasised the negative physical effects of antiviral therapies that are prominent during the initial weeks and months of commencing treatment: skin rashes, scars, drunken feeling, dizziness, unusual or bad dreams, hot flushes and fever, fat redistribution; and the negative ‘side effect’ of being observed to use antiretroviral therapies in a context where doing so is highly stigmatised, criminalised or otherwise punished. Lloyd and colleagues described the negative effects of health professionals’ interpretation of symptoms (of postural tachycardia syndrome) as indicative of stress or poor mental health rather than ‘real’ illness.
Hepatitis C
Published in Firza Alexander Gronthoud, Practical Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2020
Current medication regimes consist of DAAs. The antivirals are directed against specific sites in the genome—there are protease inhibitors (also called NS3/NS4A inhibitors) glecaprevir and grazoprevir, NS5A inhibitors velpatasvir, elbasvir, pibrentasvir and ledipasvir, and NS5B inhibitor sofosbuvir. Treatment with DAAs is associated with significantly improved survival and overall improvement in morbidity in hepatitis C positive patients, whether or not they are cirrhotic. These new antivirals are generally very well tolerated and need to be taken for a duration of 8–16 weeks usually, depending on the treatment chosen.
Estimation of the cost of influenza antiviral medication guidance or support provided by healthcare professionals: a questionnaire survey in Japan
Published in Journal of Medical Economics, 2022
Kenji Kurazono, Hidetoshi Ikeoka, Shinzo Hiroi, Kosuke Iwasaki, Tomomi Takeshima, Manabu Akazawa
In Japan, baloxavir marboxil (baloxavir) was approved in February 2018 for influenza treatment, followed by the generic drug oseltamivir in June 2018. Since the 2018/19 season, five brand-name antivirals and the generic oseltamivir have been made available. There are multiple administration routes for antivirals: oral (oseltamivir and baloxavir), inhaled (zanamivir and laninamivir), and intravenous (peramivir). In addition, the duration and frequency of the treatment are different; baloxavir, laninamivir, and peramivir are administered once, while oseltamivir and zanamivir are administered twice daily for five days. Physicians can choose a suitable antiviral agent for each influenza patient. However, Japanese clinical guidelines for managing influenza for the 2020/21 season mentioned that the use of inhaled antivirals could cause patients to cough; therefore, adequate infection control was required3.
Emerging antiviral therapies and drugs for the treatment of influenza
Published in Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs, 2022
Jinshen Wang, Yihang Sun, Shuwen Liu
Although vaccines can protect against newly emerged influenza viruses, antiviral drugs also play an important role in treating infections. At present, the therapeutic efficacy of antiviral drugs is compromised by their side effects and the emergence of drug-resistant mutants [60,201]. Taking into account drug resistance, structural modification and transformation of existing drugs represent relatively fast and effective methods [60,68]. Although these derivative compounds can enhance antiviral activity and bioavailability and the ability to respond to drug-resistant strains in the short term, there are also concerns about the safety of M2 ion channel inhibitors. Therefore, discovering and validating novel viral or host targets is crucial. Recent advances in pharmacophore modeling and structural biology have accelerated drug discovery against influenza polymerase complex PA endonuclease, PB2 cap-binding domain, PA-PB1-PB2 protein-protein interface and its nuclear trafficking [120,130,137,145,146]. Multiple compounds mentioned in the second section of this article, such as AV5116, CC-42344 and NUD-1, are expected to be novel anti-influenza drugs. Combining several drugs with different targets from NAIs can also slow viral resistance.
Guidance for the pharmacological management of COVID-19 in the emergency setting
Published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2022
Mohamad-Hani Temsah, Muneera Al-Jelaify, Ziad A Memish
More recently, two new oral antiviral drugs Molnupiravir, made by MSD (Merck) which induces intense mutagenesis in SARS-CoV-2 as a mechanism of action and Pfizer’s SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor PF-07321332 (paxlovid), in combination with low dose ritonavir have been shown to reduce the risk of admission to hospital in non-hospitalized adults with mild-moderate disease by 30% and 89%, respectively [24]. Molnupiravir was given approval in November 2021 in the United Kingdom, as the first oral medications proved to stop COVID-19 from progressing to severe disease, while the Pfizer product is awaiting US FDA approval. Both drugs are a 5-day regimen medications taken at home, to be effective they have to be taken within 3–5 days of symptom onset. According to the drug’s manufacturer, both antivirals were well tolerated by study participants, and potential side-effects were minor. Although the drugs target is different from the vaccine and the immune system, there are still limited information about the drug’s effectiveness in COVID-19 variants, like Delta and more recently Omicron which is the dominant variant globally. Lastly how long will it be before resistance develop to these new antiviral drugs is still to be discovered with worldwide use of the treatments.