How do antiviral drugs work?

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Oct 7, 2020 | Jennifer O'Hara | @jenohara

Antiviral drugs are medicines that fight against viruses in your body by impeding the infection process. Antivirals are commonly used to treat HIV/AIDS, influenza, herpes, and hepatitis B and C. The antiviral, Remdesivir, which was originally developed to fight Ebola, is now being used to treat COVID-19.

On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, explains how antivirals work to shorten the course of the disease.

To practice safe social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, this interview was conducted using video conferencing. The sound and video quality are representative of the technology used.

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Dr. Poland has served as a consultant for Merck & Co. Inc., Medicago Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Sanofi Pasteur, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., Dynavax Technologies Corp., Genentech Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Kentucky BioProcessing Inc. and Genevant Sciences Corp., and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. He is a paid scientific adviser for Johnson & Johnson. Honoraria: Elsevier.