Antiviral Drug - History

History

Through the mid- to late-20th century, medical science and practice included an array of effective tools, ranging from antiseptics to vaccines and antibiotics, but no drugs to treat viral infections. While vaccines proved effective in preventing many viral diseases, they could not help once a viral infection set in. Prior to the development of antivirals, when someone contracted a virus, there was little that could be done other than treating the symptoms and waiting for the disease to run its course.

The first experimental antivirals were developed in the 1960s, mostly to deal with herpes viruses, and were found using traditional trial-and-error drug discovery methods. Researchers grew cultures of cells and infected them with the target virus. They then introduced into the cultures chemicals which they thought might inhibit viral activity, and observed whether the level of virus in the cultures rose or fell. Chemicals that seemed to have an effect were selected for closer study.

This was a very time-consuming, hit-or-miss procedure, and in the absence of a good knowledge of how the target virus worked, it was not efficient in discovering effective antivirals which had few side effects. Only in the 1980s, when the full genetic sequences of viruses began to be unraveled, researchers began to learn how viruses worked in detail, and exactly what chemicals were needed to thwart their reproductive cycle. As of 2011 dozens of antiviral treatments are available, and medical research is rapidly exploiting new knowledge and technology to develop more.