Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Hepatitis is acute if it resolves within six months, and chronic if it lasts longer than six months. Acute hepatitis can resolve on its own, progress to chronic hepatitis, or (rarely) result in acute liver failure. Chronic hepatitis may progress to scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), liver failure, and liver cancer.
Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Antiviral drugs are a class of antimicrobials, a larger group which also includes antibiotic, antifungal and antiparasitic drugs, or antiviral drugs based on monoclonal antibodies. Most antivirals are considered relatively harmless to the host, and therefore can be used to treat infections. They should be distinguished from virucides, which are not medication but deactivate or destroy virus particles, either inside or outside the body. Natural virucides are produced by some plants such as eucalyptus and Australian tea trees.
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include fever, dark urine, abdominal pain, and yellow tinged skin. The virus persists in the liver, becoming chronic, in about 70% of those initially infected. Early on, chronic infection typically has no symptoms. Over many years however, it often leads to liver disease and occasionally cirrhosis. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will develop serious complications such as liver failure, liver cancer, or dilated blood vessels in the esophagus and stomach.
Ribavirin, also known as tribavirin, is an antiviral medication used to treat illness caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, as well as some viral hemorrhagic fevers. For HCV, it is used in combination with other medications, such as simeprevir, sofosbuvir, peginterferon alfa-2b or peginterferon alfa-2a. It can also be used for viral hemorrhagic fevers—specifically, for Lassa fever, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, and Hantavirus infections. Ribavirin is usually taken orally or inhaled. Despite widespread usage, it has faced scrutiny in the 21st century because of lack of proven efficacy in treating viral infections for which it has been prescribed in the past.
Umifenovir, sold under the brand name Arbidol, is sold and used as an antiviral medication for influenza in Russia and China. The drug is manufactured by Pharmstandard. It is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment or prevention of influenza.
Antiparasitics are a class of medications which are indicated for the treatment of parasitic diseases, such as those caused by helminths, amoeba, ectoparasites, parasitic fungi, and protozoa, among others. Antiparasitics target the parasitic agents of the infections by destroying them or inhibiting their growth; they are usually effective against a limited number of parasites within a particular class. Antiparasitics are one of the antimicrobial drugs which include antibiotics that target bacteria, and antifungals that target fungi. They may be administered orally, intravenously or topically. Overuse or misuse of antiparasitics can lead to the development of antimicrobial resistance.
Bavituximab (PGN401) is a human-mouse chimeric monoclonal antibody against phosphatidylserine, which is a component of cell membranes that is exposed when a cell is transformed into solid tumor cancer cell or dies, and when cells are infected with hepatitis C. The process of cell death is highly controlled and so there usually no immune response to phosphatidylserine but when bavituximab binds to it, the conjugate appears to stimulate an immune response in humans.
In enzymology, a pyruvate synthase is an enzyme that catalyzes the interconversion of pyruvate and acetyl-CoA. It is also called pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR).
Telbivudine is an antiviral drug used in the treatment of hepatitis B infection. It is marketed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis under the trade names Sebivo and Tyzeka. Clinical trials have shown it to be significantly more effective than lamivudine or adefovir, and less likely to cause resistance. However, HBV signature resistance mutation M204I or L180M+M204V have been associated with Telbivudine resistance.
Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection.
Telaprevir (VX-950), marketed under the brand names Incivek and Incivo, is a pharmaceutical drug for the treatment of hepatitis C co-developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson. It is a member of a class of antiviral drugs known as protease inhibitors. Specifically, telaprevir inhibits the hepatitis C viral enzyme NS3/4A serine protease. Telaprevir is only indicated for use against hepatitis C genotype 1 viral infections and has not been proven to be safe or effective when used for other genotypes of the virus. The standard therapy of pegylated interferon and ribavirin is less effective than telaprevir in those with genotype 1.
Tizoxanide, also known as desacetyl-nitazoxanide, is a thiazolide and an antiparasitic agent that occurs as a metabolite of nitazoxanide in humans through hydrolysis. Tizoxanide may undergo further metabolism via conjugation into tizoxanide glucuronide.
Inosine pranobex is an antiviral drug that is a combination of inosine and dimepranol acedoben in a ratio of 1 to 3. It is used primarily in European countries, especially as a treatment for acute viral infections, such as the common cold.
Jean-François Rossignol is a French scientist, a medicinal chemist and a physician, born in France on September 5, 1943. He was educated at the University of Paris, later specializing in tropical medicine. He then pursued a career in academia and in the pharmaceutical industry discovering and developing new drugs for the treatment of parasitic diseases such as halofantrine in the treatment of multidrug resistant Falciparum malaria or albendazole and nitazoxanide for the treatment of intestinal protozoan and helminthic infections. In 1993, he co-created his own pharmaceutical company, Romark Laboratories, L.C., to develop his own invention nitazoxanide, the first of the thiazolides. At Romark, he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company and its Chief Science Officer. Following the discovery of the antiviral activity of the thiazolides Rossignol went to Stanford University in California to study interferon stimulated gene pathways and chronic viral hepatitis under Prof. Emmet Keeffe and Prof. Jeffery Glenn. It was in the Glenn laboratory that the mechanism of antiviral activity of nitazoxanide against the hepatitis C virus was discovered.
Favipiravir, sold under the brand name Avigan among others, is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza in Japan. It is also being studied to treat a number of other viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2. Like the experimental antiviral drugs T-1105 and T-1106, it is a pyrazinecarboxamide derivative.
Galidesivir is an antiviral drug, an adenosine analog. It was developed by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals with funding from NIAID, originally intended as a treatment for hepatitis C, but subsequently developed as a potential treatment for deadly filovirus infections such as Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, as well as Zika virus. Currently, galidesivir is under phase 1 human trial in Brazil for coronavirus.
Beclabuvir is an antiviral drug for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection that has been studied in clinical trials. In February 2017, Bristol-Myers Squibb began sponsoring a post-marketing trial of beclabuvir, in combination with asunaprevir and daclatasvir, to study the combination's safety profile with regard to liver function. From February 2014 to November 2016, a phase II clinical trial was conducted on the combination of asunaprevir/daclatasvir/beclabuvir on patients infected with both HIV and HCV. Furthermore, a recent meta-analysis of six published six clinical trials showed high response rates in HCV genotype 1-infected patients treated with daclatasvir, asunaprevir, and beclabuvir irrespective of ribavirin use, prior interferon-based therapy, or restriction on noncirrhotic patients, IL28B genotype, or baseline resistance-associated variants
Riamilovir, sold under the brand name Triazavirin, is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug developed in Russia through a joint effort of Ural Federal University, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ural Center for Biopharma Technologies and Medsintez Pharmaceutical. It has a novel triazolotriazine core, which represents a new structural class of non-nucleoside antiviral drugs.
NITD008 is an antiviral drug classified as an adenosine analog. It was developed as a potential treatment for flavivirus infections and shows broad spectrum antiviral activity against many related viruses such as dengue virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, Powassan virus, hepatitis C virus, Kyasanur Forest disease virus, Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus, and Zika virus. However, NITD008 proved too toxic in pre-clinical animal testing to be suitable for human trials, but it continues to be used in research to find improved treatments for emerging viral diseases.
Lobucavir is an antiviral drug that shows broad-spectrum activity against herpesviruses, hepatitis B and other hepadnaviruses, HIV/AIDS and cytomegalovirus. It initially demonstrated positive results in human clinical trials against hepatitis B with minimal adverse effects but was discontinued from further development following the discovery of increased risk of cancer associated with long-term use in mice. Although this carcinogenic risk is present in other antiviral drugs, such as zidovudine and ganciclovir that have been approved for clinical use, development was halted by Bristol-Myers Squibb, its manufacturer.
