IN VITRO INfIBITION OF HHV-1 REPLICATION BY INOSINE PRANOBEX AND INTERFERON-α.

Key issues in the development of novel antivirals are the emergence of resistant strains. The development of new drugs effective against herpes diseases has proven to be both difficult and time-consuming. Some alternative may be to optimize the efficacy and selectivity of existing antiviral drugs or combining them with other well known agents. Inosine pranobex exerts a direct antiviral effect as well as secondary effect to its immunomodulatory activity. We found that increasing concentrations of inosine pranobex (50-400 µg/mL) produced progressively growing inhibitory effect on HHV-1 replication, following infection of different cell lines. The combination of 1000 IU/mL IFN-α and inosine pranobex also resulted in enhanced anti-HHV activity. Immunotherapy may be beneficial for patients from whom strains resistant to currently known antiviral drugs have been isolated.