Future and Perspectives of the Zika Virus: Drug Repurposing as a Powerful Tool for Treatment Insights

The Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a major public health concern in Brazil and worldwide, being a rapidly spreading disease with possible severe complications for pregnant women and neonates. There is currently no preventative therapy or specific treatment available. Within this context, drug repositioning is a very promising approach for the discovery of new treatment compounds, since old drugs may become new ones. Therefore, this paper aims to perform a literature mini-review to identify promising compounds to combat this virus. The mechanism of action at the molecular level and the structure-activity relationship of prototypes are discussed. Among the candidates identified, we highlight sofosbuvir, chloroquine and suramin, which present a greater quantity of experimental data to draw on for our discussion. The current treatment is palliative; therefore, this study is of paramount importance in identifying drug candidates useful for combating ZIKV.