Medicine Description
Indication For the treatment or suppression of cold sores herpes labialis herpes zoster shingles genital herpes in immunocompetent individuals and recurrent genital herpes in HIVinfected individuals Mechanism of action Valaciclovir is phosphorylated by viral thymidine kinase to acyclovir triphosphate the active metabolite which then inhibits herpes viral DNA replication by competitive inhibition of viral DNA polymerase and by incorporation into and termination of the growing viral DNA chain When used as a substrate for viral DNA polymerase acyclovir triphosphate competitively inhibits dATP leading to the formation of faulty DNA This is where acyclovir triphosphate is incorporated into the DNA strand replacing many of the adenosine bases This results in the prevention of DNA synthesis as phosphodiester bridges can longer to be built destabilizing the strand