Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antiviral drug development for other community-acquired respiratory viruses’ infections
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic indirectly resulted in missed therapeutic opportunities for many diseases. Here we focus on community-acquired respiratory viruses other than severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) [respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza and influenza A], and highlight the pandemics impact on clinical trials to develop novel therapies for other severe respiratory viral infections. We retrospectively reviewed inclusion rates within respiratory antiviral clinical trials in comparison with all other clinical trials in our clinical investigations center, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As opposed to the remaining clinical trials developed within our unit, respiratory antiviral trials inclusion rates did not recover after the initial recruitment decrease observed across all trials during the first pandemic wave. These results were discussed in the context of non-COVID-19 respiratory viral infection rates within our center, showing a general decline in seasonal respiratory viruses spread since the COVID-19 pandemic onset. Virus epidemiology changes upon the wide SARS-CoV-2 expansion as well as the lifestyle changes globally adopted to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission could have therefore contributed to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antiviral drug development. Our study highlights the peculiarity of respiratory antiviral drug development during the COVID-19 pandemic era and describes potential explanations for such drug development halting.
Related
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- High Prevalence of Respiratory Viral Infections in Patients Hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit for Acute Respiratory Infections as Detected by Nucleic Acid-Based Assays
- Respiratory pathogen epidemiology in children under 5 years hospitalized with acute respiratory infections in Qingdao, China: a retrospective, single-center, repeated cross-sectional surveillance study
BibTeX
@article{ghrieb2026impact,
title = {{Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antiviral drug development for other community-acquired respiratory viruses’ infections}},
author = {Zineb Ghrieb and Maud Salmona and David Michonneau and Charles de Saisset and Souhil Allaoua and Jean-Jacques Kiladjian and Jérôme Le Goff and Anne Bergeron and Lina Benajiba},
journal = {Therapies},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.therap.2022.07.010},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05783256v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antiviral drug development for other community-acquired respiratory viruses’ infections
AU - Zineb Ghrieb
AU - Maud Salmona
AU - David Michonneau
AU - Charles de Saisset
AU - Souhil Allaoua
AU - Jean-Jacques Kiladjian
AU - Jérôme Le Goff
AU - Anne Bergeron
AU - Lina Benajiba
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Therapies
DO - 10.1016/j.therap.2022.07.010
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05783256v1
AB - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic indirectly resulted in missed therapeutic opportunities for many diseases. Here we focus on community-acquired respiratory viruses other than severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) [respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza and influenza A], and highlight the pandemics impact on clinical trials to develop novel therapies for other severe respiratory viral infections. We retrospectively reviewed inclusion rates within respiratory antiviral clinical trials in comparison with all other clinical trials in our clinical investigations center, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As opposed to the remaining clinical trials developed within our unit, respiratory antiviral trials inclusion rates did not recover after the initial recruitment decrease observed across all trials during the first pandemic wave. These results were discussed in the context of non-COVID-19 respiratory viral infection rates within our center, showing a general decline in seasonal respiratory viruses spread since the COVID-19 pandemic onset. Virus epidemiology changes upon the wide SARS-CoV-2 expansion as well as the lifestyle changes globally adopted to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission could have therefore contributed to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antiviral drug development. Our study highlights the peculiarity of respiratory antiviral drug development during the COVID-19 pandemic era and describes potential explanations for such drug development halting.
SN - 0040-5957
SN - 1958-5578
ER -