Editorial of Special Column on Antiviral Drug Discovery and Pharmacology

The COVID-19 pandemic is an overdue reminder of the urgent need for antivirals.Development of antiviral drugs has been historically neglected compared to those for other diseases,including cancer,neurodegeneration diseases,inflammatory diseases and others.Retrospectively,if the 2003 SARS-CoV-1 had raised the alarm of the need for vaccines and antivirals against coronaviruses,we would have been in a much better position fighting against the SARS-CoV-2.Current FDA-approved antivirals only target a small number of viruses that are known to infect human1.