challenges and opportunities in developing respiratory syncytial virus therapeutics

Simões EAF, DeVincenzo JP, Boeckh M, et al

A roadmap for the development of antiviral development is provided by Simoes and others, which was based on the results of two meeting by the Wellcome Trust and by the Global Virology Foundation in 2012 and 2013. A strong rational for expected efficacy of antivirals is a relationship between viral load and disease severity and between rate of viral clearance and rate of recovery. Viral load is a strong biomarker of disease severity. Point-of-care diagnostics are reliable for trials in infants as viral loads are usually high. It is not clear which pediatric patient populations should be prioritized for clinical trials. Much attention was paid to defining outcomes of clinical studies. Disease severity score was not identified as a primary outcome.  Hospitalization is the most suitable primary outcome for studies with emergency room (ER) patients, whereas length of stay is the suggested primary outcome for hospitalized patient.

Download file