2. Academic Validation
  3. Drugs for the Treatment of Zika Virus Infection

Drugs for the Treatment of Zika Virus Infection

  • J Med Chem. 2020 Jan 23;63(2):470-489. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00775.
Jean A Bernatchez,  Lana T Tran 1,  Jerry Li,  Yepeng Luan 2,  Jair L Siqueira-Neto,  Rongshi Li 2 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , North Carolina 27599 , United States.
  • 2 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy , Qingdao University , Qingdao 266071 , Shandong , China.
  • 3 UNMC Center for Drug Discovery, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, and Center for Staphylococcal Research , University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha , Nebraska 68198 , United States.
PMID: 31549836 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00775
Abstract

Zika virus is an emerging Flavivirus that causes the neurodevelopmental congenital Zika syndrome and that has been linked to the neuroinflammatory Guillain-Barré syndrome. The absence of a vaccine or a clinically approved drug to treat the disease combined with the likelihood that another outbreak will occur in the future defines an unmet medical need. Several promising drug candidate molecules have been reported via repurposing studies, high-throughput compound library screening, and de novo design in the short span of a few years. Intense research activity in this area has occurred in response to the World Health Organization declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on February 1, 2016. In this Perspective, the authors review the emergence of Zika virus, the biology of its replication, targets for therapeutic intervention, target product profile, and current drug development initiatives.

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