General Antiviral Agents

Question 1

General Characteristics

Answer 1

1. Many antiviral drugs are antimetabolites that resemble the structure of purine/pyrimidine bases or their nuceloside form
2. Antimetabolites are usually prodrugs (commonly, bioactivation involves phosphorylation reactions catalyzed by kinases)

Question 2

MOA: drugs that block viral penetration/uncoating

Answer 2

Amantadine, Enfuvirtide, Maraviroc

(Influenza, gp41, CCR5)

Question 3

MOA: drugs that inhibit viral DNA polymerases

Answer 3

Acyclovir, Foscarnet, Ganciclovir

Question 4

MOA: drugs that inhibit viral RNA polymerases

Answer 4

Foscarnet, Ribavirin

Question 5

MOA: drugs that inhibit reverse transcriptase

Answer 5

Zidovudine, Didanosine, Zalcitabine, Lamivudine, Stavudine, Nevirapine, Efavirenz

Question 6

MOA: drugs that inhibit viral aspartate protease

Answer 6

Indinavir, Ritonavir, Saquinavir, Nelfinavir

Question 7

MOA: drugs that inhibit viral neuraminidase

Answer 7

Zanamivir, Oseltamivir

Question 8

Steps of a viral infection

Answer 8

1. Viral adsorption (enfuvirtide, maraviroc)
2. Penetration
3. Uncoating (amantadine)
4. Nucleic acid synthesis (polymerase inhibitors & reverse transcriptase inhibitors)
5. Protein synthesis and processing (protease inhibitors)
6. Viral assembly
7. Viral release (neuraminidase inhibitors)