Some of the drug combinations used against HIV require those infected to take tens of tablets each day. Such treatments are not only costly and inconvenient, but failure to comply with dosing requirements can allow viruses to develop resistance to the various drugs. Eye on the future Cyclops compounds, on the other hand, offer the possibility of a more generic approach to treating viral infection. Because they do not target the virus itself, viruses cannot develop resistance to the compounds and a single Cyclops species may be effective against a wide range of viruses. In this way, the compounds are similar to one of the earliest antiviral treatments, interferon.
Natural interferons are a group of small proteins secreted by cells following viral infection.
They bind to the plasma membrane of surrounding cells and block viral replication by enhancing the production of several enzymes involved in protein synthesis. As a drug, however, interferon is hampered by a variety of unwelcome side-effects, such as fever, headaches, vomiting and even psychological disturbance. Simple Cyclops compounds, whose effects are now known to be different from interferon, could potentially offer a way of circumventing these problems. Slowly but surely, over the past decade the cyclopentenone prostaglandins, particularly the PGAs and PGJs, have begun to emerge from the shadows of the primary prostaglandins. Late last year, Charterhouse received substantial support from HealthCap in Stockholm.