title: Anti-herpesvirus agents: a patent and literature review (2003 to present).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The standard therapy used to treat herpesvirus infections is based on the application of DNA polymerase inhibitors such as ganciclovir or aciclovir. Unfortunately, all of these compounds exhibit relatively high toxicity and the mutation of herpesviruses results in the appearance of new drug-resistant strains. Consequently, there is a great need for the development of new, effective and safe anti-herpesvirus agents that employ different patterns of therapeutic action at various stages of the virus life cycle.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patents and patent applications concerning the development of anti-herpesvirus agents displaying different mechanisms of action that have been published since 2003 are reviewed. In addition, major discoveries in this field that have been published in academic papers have also been included.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among all the anti-herpesvirus agents described in this article, the inhibitors of viral serine protease seem to present one of the most effective/promising therapeutics. Unfortunately, the practical application of these antiviral agents has not yet been proven in any clinical trials. Nevertheless, the dynamic and extensive work on this subject gives hope that a new class of anti-herpesvirus agents aimed at the enzymatic activity of herpesvirus serine protease may be developed.
authors.affiliation: Wroclaw University of Technology, Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Chemistry , Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw , Poland +48 71 320 24 39 ; +48 71 320 24 27 ; marcin.sienczyk@pwr.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skoreński
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sieńczyk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015195:Drug Design; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D010330:Patents as Topic; D015842:Serine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D015842:Serine Proteinase Inhibitors
keywords: anti-herpesvirus agents; antiviral therapy; herpesvirus protease; herpesviruses; protease inhibitors