Novel agents for the treatment of human cytomegalovirus infection

This review summarises patents claiming novel agents for the treatment of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection published from January 1996 to date. The majority of the patents describe the synthesis and biological evaluation against HCMV of very different chemical entities; these can be classified as nucleoside and nucleotide analogue derivatives, non-nucleoside compounds such as peptides, pseudopeptides or heterocyclic systems and inhibitors of herpes protease virus. A group of parents reported new formulation methods or slight chemical modifications of known actual clinically used antivirals or HCMV inhibitors such as foscarnet or acyclovir, which claimed to provide improved physical or pharmacokinetic stability and bioavailability of drugs. Other antiviral actions of these HCMV inhibitors were further claimed, especially against hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus (HSV),:human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and varicella tester virus (VZV).