New drug-strategies to tackle viral-host interactions for the treatment of influenza virus infections

The influenza virus (IV) is a highly contagious virus causing seasonal global outbreaks affecting annually up to 20% of the world's population and leading to 250,000-500,000 deaths worldwide. Current vaccines have variable effectiveness, and, in particular during a pandemic outbreak, they are probably not available in the amounts needed to protect the world population. Therefore we need effective small molecule drugs to combat an N infection and that can be produced, in case of pandemic, rapidly and in large quantities. Unfortunately, natural occurring N becomes more and more resistant to current anti-IV drugs. And thus, there is an urgent need for development of alternative agents with new mechanisms of action. This review provides an overview of the pharmacology and effectiveness of new anti -IV agents, focusing on inhibition mechanisms directed against virus-host interactions.