NanoViricides Reports That It Has Designed & Commenced Synthesis of Novel Ebola Drug Candidates; Dr. Seymour To Present At Th...
September 09 2014 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE MKT:NNVC) (the “Company”), a
nanomedicine company developing anti-viral drugs, reported further
progress in its anti-Ebola drug development program. The Company
has designed novel anti-Ebola broad-spectrum drug candidates that
are expected to continue to work in spite of mutations, and has
commenced synthesis of the same.
Dr. Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, CEO of the Company, will present
information about the Company’s programs, with particular reference
to the current Ebola outbreak in Africa, at the Rodman and Renshaw
Investment Conference in New York City this afternoon. He will also
discuss some of the difficulties that could be encountered in
attempts to bring the Ebola epidemic under control. Dr Seymour has
extensive field experience in the area of infectious diseases. He
has previously worked on HIV/AIDS in Africa,
Eastern Europe and Asia.
The Company had previously developed anti-Ebola drug candidates
that demonstrated the validity and potential of the Company’s
approach, based on cell culture and animal testing conducted at US
Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)
in a BSL-4 facility. The Company had to de-prioritize this
development in order to focus on the development of its lead drug
candidate, Injectable FluCide™, for treatment of hospitalized
patients with influenza. The Company has recently reported that it
has restarted its anti-Ebola/Marburg drug program, in consideration
of the severe public health impact of an Ebola virus epidemic. The
current outbreak in Africa has unequivocally demonstrated the need
for an effective, broad-spectrum, anti-Ebola therapeutic.
The Company has now developed additional novel drug candidates
against Ebola that it believes could lead to a successful
therapeutic. A nanoviricide® drug is made up of two components that
are chemically connected together: a virus-binding ligand that
mimics the native receptor on the host cell to which the virus
binds, and a backbone polymer that makes the nanoviricide “look
like” the host cell surface to the virus. There have been
significant developments in the elucidation of the important cell
surface receptors and attachment factors of Ebola virus recently.
With this new structure based information, the Company has been
able to redesign its anti-Ebola ligands.
“We believe the new anti-Ebola ligands should make the new drug
candidates substantially superior to our older ones, based on the
molecular modeling studies we have conducted using the structural
information of interaction of Ebola virus glycoprotein with its
cellular receptor Niemann-Pick C1 protein,” said Anil R. Diwan,
PhD, President of the Company, “We believe that Ebola virus will
not be able to avoid our drug candidates in spite of mutations,
because we are mimicking NPC1, the receptor to which the virus must
bind in order to infect the host cell. Of course, we must await
results from actual cell culture and animal testing to further
develop these candidates.”
The Company is in negotiations with several parties regarding
testing the new nanoviricide drug candidates against Ebola in the
required high safety environments, i.e. BSL-4 facilities.
NanoViricides, Inc. now has the capability of producing
sufficient quantities of an anti-Ebola drug, after it is developed,
for combating current and future Ebola epidemics. The highly
customizable nanomedicine cGMP capable pilot scale manufacturing
facility in Shelton, CT, will be able to supply all of the
nanoviricides drug candidates in quantities needed for human
clinical trials.
As of September 5, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) and
the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported a total of 3,967
suspected cases and 2,105 deaths, according to Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_epidemic_in_West_Africa).
WHO has reported an overall case fatality rate estimate of 52%,
considerably lower than that reported from previous outbreaks.
Unfortunately, this Ebola outbreak has continued to expand at an
exponential rate in spite of significant efforts to contain it.
Currently, there are no approved drugs or vaccines against
Ebola, , although some vaccines as well as some drug candidates
have entered clinical trials. Recently, WHO has announced a policy
for use of experimental drugs against Ebola to expedite drug
availability.
About NanoViricides:
NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating
special purpose nanomaterials for viral therapy. The Company's
novel nanoviricide® class of drug candidates are designed to
specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle
them. The Company is developing drugs against a number of viral
diseases including H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal
Influenza, HIV, oral and genital Herpes, viral diseases of the eye
including EKC and herpes keratitis, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue
fever, and Ebola virus, among others.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events.
Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those
projected herein and depend on a number of factors. Certain
statements in this release, and other written or oral statements
made by NanoViricides, Inc. are “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which
could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no
obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking
statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from the company's expectations
include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed
under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed
by the company from time to time with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Although
it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors, they
may include the following: demonstration and proof of principle in
pre-clinical trials that a nanoviricide is safe and effective;
successful development of our product candidates; our ability to
seek and obtain regulatory approvals, including with respect to the
indications we are seeking; the successful commercialization of our
product candidates; and market acceptance of our products.
NanoViricides, Inc.Amanda Schuon, 310-550-7200info@nanoviricides.com
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