Journal article

Antiviral activity of arbidol, a broad-spectrum drug for use against respiratory viruses, varies according to test conditions

MJ Brooks, EI Burtseva, PJ Ellery, GA Marsh, AM Lew, AN Slepushkin, SM Crowe, GA Tannock

Journal of Medical Virology | WILEY | Published : 2012

Abstract

The therapeutic activity of arbidol was investigated against representatives of seven different virus families. Its 50% median effective concentration (EC50) was 0.22-11.8μg/ml (0.41-22nM). Therapeutic indices of 91 were obtained for type 1 poliovirus and 1.9-8.5 for influenza A and B, human paramyxo-3, avian infectious bronchitis-, and Marek's disease viruses. Arbidol was more inhibitory for influenza A/Aichi/2/68 (H3N2) virus than rimantadine or amantadine (EC50 10 vs. >15 and >31.6μg/ml); greater inhibition occurred when end-points were expressed as TCID50s. For respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a reduction in plaque size but not number was observed. However, when the drug was added to i..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

Grant sponsor: Australia-Russia Agreement for Collaboration in Medical Research and Public Health (partial support).This work was undertaken in part fulfillment of requirements for the award of a PhD at RMIT university by the senior author. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution to this work of The Victorian Operational Infrastructure Support Program. We thank Ms. Hyunsuh Kim of the Burnet Institute for assistance in the preparation of the figures and tables.