ABSTRACT
Brivudin (BVDU) was originally synthesized in 1976 at the chemistry department of the University of Birmingham (UK) by Barr, Jones and Walker, as a potential radiation-sensitizing agent, assuming that it would be incorporated into DNA. The potent and selective activity of brivudin against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was first mentioned at the Federation of European Biochemical Societies Symposium “Antimetabolites in Biochemistry, Biology and Medicine,” held in Prague in 1978) (De Clercq et al., 1979a). The further development of the drug was outlined by De Clercq (2004).
