Focus on new antiviral drugs for AIDS and smallpox treatments

More than 400 papers on medicinal chemistry were presented at the 231st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., March 26-30, 2006. A major focus was a large number of papers on new AIDS drug therapies being developed. The rapid development of HIV viral mutations is one reason expensive highly active antiretroviral therapy multidrug treatments are preferred. This increasing resistance of HIV to current drugs is spurring new drug development. In addition, concerns about bioterrorism have awakened interest in drug treatments for a viral disease once thought to be extinct, smallpox. This report will focus on these areas of research.