title: Accelerating Drug Development: Antiviral Therapies for Emerging Viruses as a Model.
abstract: Drug discovery and development is a lengthy and expensive process. Although no one, simple, single solution can significantly accelerate this process, steps can be taken to avoid unnecessary delays. Using the development of antiviral therapies as a model, we describe options for acceleration that cover target selection, assay development and high-throughput screening, hit confirmation, lead identification and development, animal model evaluations, toxicity studies, regulatory issues, and the general drug discovery and development infrastructure. Together, these steps could result in accelerated timelines for bringing antiviral therapies to market so they can treat emerging infections and reduce human suffering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama 35233; email: maaike@uab.edu , rwhitley@peds.uab.edu.
authors.forename: Maaike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Everts
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Foster City, California 94404; email: tomas.cihlar@gilead.com.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cihlar
authors.affiliation: Drug Discovery Division, Southern Research, Birmingham, Alabama 35205; email: bbostwick@southernresearch.org.
authors.forename: J Robert
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Bostwick
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama 35233; email: maaike@uab.edu , rwhitley@peds.uab.edu.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Whitley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D014780:Viruses / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents
keywords: antivirals; drug discovery; emerging infections