Abstract
Effective antiviral therapy has been achieved with the administration of nucleoside analogs, particularly for herpesvirus and human immunodeficiency virus infection. Compounds such as acyclovir, ganciclovir, and penciclovir are prototype nucleoside analogs which have demonstrated antiviral activity against several members of the herpesvirus family. Sorivudine (bromovinyl arabinosyl uracil; BVarak) is a relatively new nucleoside analog which was synthesized by Dr. Machida of the Yamasa Shoyu Company in Japan.1,2 Sorivudine has undergone field trial evaluation for the treatment of zoster in Japanese volunteers and was licensed for the treatment of this disease in 1994 in that country. Currently, the compound is under evaluation in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia for the treatment of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infections in both the normal and immunocompromised host. This review will briefly summarize published data on sorivudine and its potential as a therapeutic for VZV infections.
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Whitley, R.J. (1996). Sorivudine: A Potent Inhibitor of Varicella Zoster Virus Replication. In: Mills, J., Volberding, P.A., Corey, L. (eds) Antiviral Chemotherapy 4. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 394. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9209-6_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9209-6_5
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