| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5825818 | Current Opinion in Pharmacology | 2016 | 7 Pages |
â¢DENV poses a huge public health burden infecting â¼390 million individuals/year.â¢Small molecule inhibitors to prevent or treat DENV infections are urgently needed.â¢Only 5 molecules were evaluated in clinical trials: 1 DAA and 3 non-specific inhibitors.â¢No obvious beneficial clinical effect was noted with any of these drugs.â¢Previous trials may serve as guides to design future trials for novel DENV inhibitors.
Dengue virus is an emerging human pathogen that poses a huge public health burden by infecting annually about 390 million individuals of which a quarter report with clinical manifestations. Although progress has been made in understanding dengue pathogenesis, a licensed vaccine or antiviral therapy against this virus is still lacking. Treatment of patients is confined to symptomatic alleviation and supportive care. The development of dengue therapeutics thus remains of utmost importance. This review focuses on the few molecules that were evaluated in dengue virus-infected patients: balapiravir, chloroquine, lovastatin, prednisolone and celgosivir. The lessons learned from these clinical trials can be very helpful for the design of future trials for the next generation of dengue virus inhibitors.
