Virology needs more hypothesis-driven research, says Robert Gallo, who helped discover HIV. The field has become more data driven in recent years, which has led to a decline in the number of new antiviral drugs approved by the FDA. Gallo argues that a more methodical approach, one that is based on a better understanding of the virus’s life cycle, is needed to develop new treatments for viral diseases such as COVID-19..
Despite the rapid development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, the virus continues to circulate and mutate, leading to new variants and waves of infection. This underscores the need for new antiviral drugs that can be used to treat COVID-19 and other viral diseases..
Gallo, who is now the director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, says that the field of virology has become more data driven in recent years. This has led to an explosion of new information about viruses, but it has also made it more difficult to develop new treatments..
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