Is there an anti‐adenoviral drug on the horizon?

Abstract

AbstractAdenovirus ocular infections (epidemic keratoconjunctivitis [EKC], follicular conjunctivitis, and pharyngeal conjunctival fever) are the most common ocular viral infections worldwide, including more than 1,000,000 cases annually in Japan. To date, there is no US FDA or European Medicines Agency approved antiviral therapy for these infections. Little progress on anti‐adenoviral development was made until our group developed the first reliable animal model for ocular anti‐adenoviral testing 20 years ago. Using that animal model, our group was instrumental in the preclinical development of the first topical antiviral drug for the treatment of adenoviral conjunctivitis tested in clinical trials, the nucleoside analog cidofovir. However, toxicity concerns, not efficacy, caused the sponsor to discontinue development. Since then, there has been considerable progress made regarding the discovery and development of antivirals by both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies have identified several new antiviral candidates such as 2,3‐dideoxycytidine (ddC), cyclopentenylcytosine (CPE‐C), intravenous immune globulin (IVIG), NVC‐422, and FST‐100. These preclinical studies have led to industry sponsored clinical trials which have been initiated with several agents NVC‐422 (NovaBay), Zirgan (0.15% Ganciclovir gel, Bausch + Lomb), and FST‐100 (0.4% povidone‐iodine/0.1% dexamethasone, Foresight Biotherapeutics). The first antiviral to treat adenovirus ocular infections will hopefully be available in the not too distant future. Commercial interest