Hamao Umezawa Memorial Award lecture 'an odyssey in the viral chemotherapy field'

In the search of effective and selective chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of viral infections, my 'Odyssey' brought me to explore a variety of approaches. encompassing interferon and interferon inducers, suramin and other polyanionic substances, S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase inhibitors, inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase inhibitors, 5-substituted 2'-deoxyuridines such as (E)-S-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine, acyclovir (esters) and other acyclic guanosine analogues, 2',3'-dideoxynucleoside analogues, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), bicyclams, and acyclic nucleoside phosphonates. This had led to the identification of a number of compounds, efficacious against such important viral pathogens as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV). hepatitis C virus (HCV), herpes simplex virus (HSV). varicella-zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and other herpesviruses. pox-, adeno-, polyoma, and papillomaviruses, and hemorrhagic fever viruses. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. and International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.