Unveiling Emerging Avenues in Antiviral Research: Navigating Clinical Trials and Regulatory Landscapes

Combating viral diseases represents a major challenge, especially due to the complexity, whether due to the ability of these pathogens to mutate or resistance to the drugs used as treatment. In general, coping with viruses is classically done preventively through the use of vaccines. However, the use of antiviral drugs such as remdesivir can also be used. The pandemic caused by SASRS-CoV-2 has increased concern about these microorganisms, mainly due to their ability to mutate, climate change, globalization, and anthropic actions. With that, in addition to the surveillance of emerging and reemerging viruses, the pandemic raised other issues, such as the therapeutic and preventive alternatives available for the main viral diseases and also for viruses that are still unknown. Undoubtedly, new prevention and therapeutic tools need to be available due to the complexity and aggressiveness of some diseases. In addition, these tools must have a high degree of safety and significant cost-effectiveness, in addition to being highly effective and practical. For this, conducting clinical trials is essential in view of the maximum benefit and the least harm to the population included in the clinical research. For this, the regulation of the tests becomes unique in order to guarantee the lowest risk and the highest safety. By improving existing tools and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, we will be able to better prepare for the next pandemic, optimizing the time for potential drugs to reach the clinical trial stage, as occurred in the COVID-19 pandemic.