Newly Emerging Strategies in Antiviral Drug Discovery: Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Erik De Clercq on Occasion of His 80th Anniversary

Viral infections pose a persistent threat to human health. The relentless epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a global health problem, with millions of infections and fatalities so far. Traditional approaches such as random screening and optimization of lead compounds by organic synthesis have become extremely resource- and time-consuming. Various modern innovative methods or integrated paradigms are now being applied to drug discovery for significant resistance in order to simplify the drug process. This review provides an overview of newly emerging antiviral strategies, including proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC), ribonuclease targeting chimera (RIBOTAC), targeted covalent inhibitors, topology-matching design and antiviral drug delivery system. This article is dedicated to Prof. Dr. Erik De Clercq, an internationally renowned expert in the antiviral drug research field, on the occasion of his 80th anniversary.