Vidarabine (pronounced vye DARE a been) is also known as adenine arabinoside and under the trade name Vira-A. It is an antiviral drug that is useful in treating infections caused by the herpes zoster-varicella and the herpes simplex viruses. It has also been effective in treating inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) caused by herpes simplex infection, though it isn't as effective as acyclovir. It is often used in the form of a petrolatum-based ointment for viral eye infections.

Vidarabine's empirical formula is C₁₀H₁₃H₅O₄*H₂O and its molecular weight is 285.26.

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Some or all of the information in this writeup was taken from the science dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/; I oversaw the development of the dictionary (the website was mothballed in 1998) and believe I wrote the entry this writeup is partly or wholly based upon.