New Computer-Designed ‘Drug’ Prevents AIDS From Replicating

New Computer-Designed ‘Drug’ Prevents AIDS From Replicating
European researchers have used a computer to design small synthetic molecules capable of attacking the deadly AIDS virus where it hurts the most: its ability to produce the genetic material required for replication. 
The novel designer molecules work by blocking the virus' ability to replicate. And they do so by inhibiting the output of genetic material from the infected cell nucleus to the cytoplasm. Without replication, no new infections can occur.

The new designer compound, a virus inhibitor called terphenyls, reproduces the interactions of one of the proteins encoded by the virus — a viral protein called Rev. These terphenyls have the nasty habit of acting like an unwelcomed guest in the Rev's receptor within the viral RNA. And because three's a crowd, this prevents the proper interaction between the protein and its RNA receptor. The virus's replicative ability is broken, the proper interaction required for the virus's genetic material to leave the infected cell is prevented. And with no replication, no further infections of neighboring cells can occur.

Source and further reading:
http://io9.com/new-computer-designed-drug-prevents-aids-from-replica-1473572265

Reference:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201309856/abstract