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For the treatment of novel coronavirus infections (COVID-19, Corona 19), the antiviral drugs Paxrovid and Lagevrio are used. Antiviral drugs are drugs that treat infectious diseases caused by specific viruses. This means that whenever a new virus appears, a new drug needs to be developed.
According to the medical community on the 16th, in the medical science community around the world where the global pandemic of Corona 19 has swept, there is a voice that universal antiviral drugs that can respond to various viruses should be developed. It is said that whenever a disease infected by a virus grows stronger and shows signs of an epidemic, a drug that can respond immediately is needed.
Antiviral drugs are the most effective drugs to cure infectious diseases caused by viruses. Antiviral drugs that respond to Corona 19 combine with the spike protein of the virus to block the invasion process itself.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, antiviral drugs for COVID-19 were in competition with antibody treatments. Antibody therapeutics that fight viruses in a similar way to the body’s immune response were virtually withdrawn from the market as their effect on the constantly occurring virus mutations decreased. On the contrary, it has been empirically proven that antiviral drugs are the most effective treatment for infectious diseases caused by new viruses.
In order to effectively respond not only to new viruses but also to seasonal epidemic viruses that come every year, there is an analysis that the development of general-purpose antiviral drugs must be done as soon as possible.
Choi Yeong-joon, a pediatric infectious disease expert and professor of pediatrics at Korea University Anam Hospital, said, “Pediatric infectious diseases, which are toxic in the spring, change their prevalence every year.” If an antiviral drug comes out, the treatment infrastructure will be greatly improved.”
Cold, a typical viral disease caused by respiratory viruses, is transmitted by various viruses such as influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, and adenovirus. Because different viruses cause it, there is no universal treatment yet.
The problem is that it is not easy to develop a universal antiviral drug. According to experts, antibiotics are relatively easy to experiment with because R&D is conducted directly on live bacteria. Several universal antibiotics have already been marketed.
On the other hand, viruses that exist in DNA or messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) are much more difficult to extract and preserve for experiments than bacteria. Professor Choi explained, “Living organisms can be tested immediately, but viruses need to grow cells separately for experiments.”
While the development of universal antiviral drugs has emerged as a challenge in the academic world, researchers are already paying attention to the development of universal antiviral drugs. A research team led by Shibo Zhang, a professor at Fudan University in China, published a study on the possibility of developing a general-purpose antiviral drug in the international journal Cell in 2021.
According to this study, RNA viruses such as COVID-19 are highly likely to mutate, but recently, protein candidates that can flexibly respond to various mutations have been discovered. The research team said, “Even though the replication patterns of mutations are different for each virus, there are common stages in the life cycle. Such similar properties will be clues for the development of universal antiviral drugs.”
