There is an urgent need for better control of viral diseases. Repurposing existing antiviral drugs could play a pivotal role in this process, according to a multinational team of scientists and clinicians from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The team, led by Denis Kainov, recently reviewed all approved, investigational, and experimental antiviral agents that have been shown to be safe in humans to search for new uses against existing and emerging viruses The results of their investigation were published in Antiviral Research earlier this week.
The team identified 59 compounds already shown to be safe in humans that targeted at least three viral diseases. The researchers then tested 55 of these compounds on eight different viruses, and found that seven showed new effects against HIV-1, Zika virus, and Rift Valley Fever.
The researchers say that their results show existing safe-in-human broad-spectrum antivirals (BSAs) could be used on other viral infections. The goal is to create broad-spectrum antiviral drugs, much like the broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs that are currently available.
"Effective treatment with broad-spectrum antivirals may shortly become available, pending the results of further pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. The most effective and tolerable compounds will expand the available therapeutics for the treatment of viral diseases," said Aleksandr Ianevsky, the first author of the study and a PhD student at NTNU.
"We hope that not only broad-spectrum antibiotics but also broad-spectrum antivirals will be available in a future," said Magnar Bjørås, a professor at NTNU's department of molecular medicine. "These drugs could be used as first-line therapeutics to combat emerging and re-emerging viral threats that have a global impact, improving preparedness, and the protection of the general population from viral epidemics and pandemics."