Fluoxetine – better known by its first brand name: Prozac-, in addition to being a potent antidepressant, is also a promising antiviral agent, as shown by a study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy .
Using molecular screening techniques, the researchers at the University of California (USA) found that fluoxetine inhibited the replication of coxsakievirus, a virus that causes numerous infections and diseases. "The discovery of this unsuspected antiviral activity is of great importance," explains Robert Damoiseaux, another of the authors. "The next step will be to look for other targets for fluoxetine and similar drugs that have previously gone unnoticed," he adds.
Coxsakieviruses belong to the family of enteroviruses, whose members are responsible for very severe diseases such as polio or encephalitis. Although there are vaccines for some of them, no effective treatment for enterovirus infections has been found so far. This research opens the way to find possible solutions to the problem.
