Mericitabine (RG-7128) is an
antiviral drug
Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do n ...
, a deoxycytidine analog (a type of
nucleoside analog
Nucleoside analogues are nucleosides which contain a nucleic acid analogue and a sugar. Nucleotide analogs are nucleotides which contain a nucleic acid analogue, a sugar, and a phosphate group with one to three phosphates.
Nucleoside and nuc ...
). It was developed as a treatment for
hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...
, acting as a
NS5B
Nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) is a viral protein found in the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, having the key function of replicating HCV's viral RNA by using the viral positive RNA strand as a template to catalyze ...
RNA polymerase
In molecular biology, RNA polymerase (abbreviated RNAP or RNApol), or more specifically DNA-directed/dependent RNA polymerase (DdRP), is an enzyme that synthesizes RNA from a DNA template.
Using the enzyme helicase, RNAP locally opens the ...
inhibitor, but while it showed a good safety profile in clinical trials, it was not sufficiently effective to be used as a stand-alone agent. However mericitabine has been shown to boost the efficacy of other antiviral drugs when used alongside them, and as most modern treatment regimens for hepatitis C use a combination therapy of several antiviral drugs, clinical trials have continued to see if it can form a part of a clinically useful drug treatment program.
See also
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BCX4430
Galidesivir (BCX4430, immucillin-A) is an antiviral drug, an adenosine analog (a type of nucleoside analog). It was developed by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals with funding from NIAID, originally intended as a treatment for hepatitis C, but subsequentl ...
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MK-608
MK-608 (7-deaza-2’-''C''-methyladenosine, 7DMA) is an antiviral drug, an adenosine analog (a type of nucleoside analog). It was originally developed by Merck & Co. as a treatment for hepatitis C, but despite promising results in animal studies ...
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NITD008
NITD008 is an antiviral drug classified as an adenosine analog (a type of nucleoside analog). It was developed as a potential treatment for flavivirus infections and shows broad spectrum antiviral activity against many related viruses such as d ...
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Valopicitabine
References
Anti–RNA virus drugs
Antiviral drugs
Nucleosides
Isobutyrate esters
Pyrimidones
NS5B (polymerase) inhibitors
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