Antiviral Therapy

Edited by:
  • Joep M. A. Lange &
  • Douglas D. Richman
MediTech Media. 4/yr. £200, $300 (institutional); £50, $75 (personal)

All of us, bar the shareholders in pharmaceutical companies, would agree that prevention is better than cure. But despite the eradication of smallpox and the success of vaccines against yellow fever, polio and the hepatitis-B virus, there are several viruses that continue to lay us low with the common cold, knock us out in one blow with influenza or ebola, or kill us more slowly with AIDS. There is therefore a burgeoning interest in antiviral therapy, the eponymous field of this journal, and the journal succeeds in satisfying this interest.

Since its launch in January 1996, Antiviral Therapy has published high-quality original articles and several thought-provoking editorials. As the editors lament in their first anniversary issue, the quarterly journal has attracted an inordinate proportion of papers on HIV infection; indeed the HIV load seems to be higher than all other viruses combined, although the imbalance has been counteracted by judiciously chosen reviews and supplements.

The journal has shown an astonishingly short eclipse period between submission and publication; for example, one paper first submitted in August 1996 came out in that month's issue. The publishers should beware of the doubtful ethics of printing to retrospective dates, as authors may be tempted to claim unwarranted precedence for their findings.

Antiviral Therapy is publishing mainly at the clinical-trial end of its spectrum. This focus neatly complements the more molecular Antiviral Chemistry and Chemotherapy and the snappier commentary of International Antiviral News.

We have advanced a long way since the pioneering development of acyclovir to control herpes infections. Our increasing understanding of the diverse modes of viral replication may yield a variety of safe, efficacious, antiviral drugs and combination therapies. Later, there will surely be horror stories about epidemics of drug-resistant viruses for the journal to publish.