Ritonavir structure-based design

A similar strategy has been used to optimize a number of peptide-based compounds with therapeutic potential, including tachykinins, enkephalins, and protease inhibitors. HIV protease is essential for producing mature, infectious virus, and two protease molecules are carried in each mature virion (Figure 4.7). With inhibitors developed specifically for HIV protease, but not human protease, one hopes to halt virus replication. Peptides with HIV protease inhibitor activity have been further refined by means of computer- and structure-based design strategies, leading to the development of new molecular entities that are stable to proteases and compact so that they can be administered orally (Table 4.6). Some protease inhibitors (e.g., ritonavir and... 

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