This article is meant as an introductory chapter to the special issue of
Antiviral Research on "Twenty-five years of antiretroviral
drug development: progress and prospects", commemorating the first description of
azidothymidine (AZT) as an
antiretroviral agent. This has prompted me to highlight some of the hallmarks that played an important role in my own search of a selective
therapy of
viral infections: i.e., the induction of
interferon by
double-stranded RNA [such as
poly(I).
poly(C)], allowing the cloning and expression of
beta-interferon; the discovery of the
reverse transcriptase (RT) (and HIV as a retrovirus depending for its replication on RT), allowing the identification and development of a wide variety of RT inhibitors, nowadays used for the treatment of
AIDS; the specificity of herpesvirus inhibitors such as
acyclovir and BVDU, in the treatment of HSV and VZV
infections; the role of acyclic
nucleoside phosphonates (
tenofovir,
adefovir and
cidofovir) in the treatment of HIV, HBV and
DNA virus infections; and that of the NNRTIs (leading from TIBO to
rilpivirine) as an essential part of the current
anti-HIV drug cocktails. This article forms part of a special issue of
Antiviral Research marking the 25th anniversary of antiretroviral
drug discovery and development, vol. 85, issue 1, 2010.