Acyclovir-related antiviral drugs
Acyclovir, famcyclovir, valacyclovir, gancyclovir
- all are acyclic analogs of guanosine (i.e. DNA chain terminators)
- all are inactive pro-drugs
- Basis of selectivity is that thymidine kinase encoded by HSV and VZV can phosphorylate pro-drug into active form (nucleotide triphosphate).
- Incorporation of acyclovir-triphosphate into growing viral DNA chains prevents the virus from completing its replication cycle.
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