antiprion drug antiprion drug antiprion drugs are drugs that work against prions. the discovery of antiprion drugs is a priority because prion diseases are untreatable and fatal. therefore, it is a therapeutic priority to find effective anti-prion drugs. mechanism of action the disease progression in prion diseases is probably due to the conformational change of the prion protein (prp). prp changes from alpha-helical conformation to a disease-associated, mainly beta-sheeted scrapie isoform (prpsc), which forms amyloid aggregates. the drugs that contain n′-benzylidene-benzohydrazide core structure are likely to slow down this progression. drugs that target prpc, the normal prion isoform, are also hypothesized to delay the progression of prion diseases.