Journal article icon

Journal article : Review

Magic bullets, magic shields, and antimicrobials in between

Abstract:
There are only two classes of small-molecule drugs for infectious disease: pathogen-directed antimicrobials and host-directed immunomodulators. The former includes antibiotics and antivirals while the latter comprises corticosteroids such as dexamethasone. Here I inaugurate a third class, immunomodulatory antimicrobials (IAs), which considers small-molecule drugs harbouring both pathogen-directed and host-directed pharmacology. I review seven types of IAs, and argue that their high repositionability and network pharmacological ability to counter multiple pathogen types render them more applicable to pandemic-preparedness research than antivirals.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

Actions

Access Document

Files:
Publisher copy:
10.1016/j.pscia.2022.100002

Authors

More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Role:
Author


Publisher:
Elsevier BV
Journal:
Pharmaceutical science advances More from this journal
Volume:
1
Issue:
1
Pages:
100002
Publication date:
2022-12-13
DOI:
ISSN:
2773-2169
Pmid:
41551435


Language:
English
Keywords:
Subtype:
Review
Pubs id:
2374501
UUID:
uuid_4636fe0e-8152-4e25-bd2e-3ee82dfedfc8
Local pid:
pubs:2374501
Source identifiers:
3696328
Deposit date:
2026-01-27
ARK identifier:
This ORA record was generated from metadata provided by an external service. It has not been edited by the ORA Team.

Terms of use


Views and Downloads






If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record

TO TOP