Conjugating Drug Candidates to Polymeric Chains does not Necessarily Enhance Anti-Influenza Activity

摘要

Influenza virus is highly transmissible and kills over 250,000 people worldwide each year. In the United States alone, some 20% of the population contracts the virus annually leading to countless missed days of work and school and tens of billions of dollars in associated costs.1, 2 The two FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of influenza infections, Oseltamivir (Tamiflu~(TM)) and Zanamivir (Relenza~(TM)), have fallen short of expectations due to mediocre activity in reducing the symptoms and duration of the infection as well as emerging resistance in clinical isolates.~(3,4,5) Thus new, more effective anti-influenza therapeutic agents are greatly needed.