Therapeutic patents for cytomegalovirus

Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an important pathogen with significant unmet medical need and an excellent pharmacoeconomic case for drug development. Nevertheless, 25 years of development has so far failed to bring to the market a single drug that is both potent and safe. This review will emphasise the potential offered by molecular biological approaches to improve this situation, illustrated by specific examples of inhibitors of CMV-encoded genes that have been identified recently. Thus, the novelty in the patent literature lies in the technology used to identify key antiviral targets for CMV and find inhibitory molecules. The author suggests that this approach has already provided sufficient novel lead compounds, which are potent inhibitors of their target enzymes. What is needed now is a concerted effort to move these compounds into early phase clinical trials, using applied molecular biology to measure viral load and so determine if any of these compounds can inhibit CMV in its natural habitat; the infected human.

• clinical trials
• cytomegalovirus
• drug development
• inhibitors of enzymes
• molecular biology
• resistance