SHELTON, Conn., Aug. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides,
Inc. (NYSE MKT: NNVC) (the "Company"), a global leader in
nanomedicines that is developing biomimetic anti-viral drugs
reports that Honorable U.S. Senator Chris
Murphy visited the Company's new campus in Shelton, CT, on Wednesday, August 24th, 2016.
"NanoViricides is exactly the type of innovative company that is
driving job creation throughout greater New Haven and the Naugatuck Valley," said
Senator Murphy, adding, "I was incredibly impressed by the company
and enjoyed hearing from employees during my town hall about how I
can best help them and other bioscience entrepreneurs cut through
red tape. I know the success of our state's economy is reliant on
innovative companies like NanoViricides that tap into the strengths
of our state's workforce and educational institutions, and I'll be
bringing what I learned from today's visit back to Congress."
Murphy joined co-founder Dr. Anil Diwan for a tour of the
facility and then hosted a town hall with the company's thirty
employees. Two years ago, NanoViricides, Inc., expanded to their
new Shelton lab space from a
smaller West Haven facility and
added nearly twenty new employees, including at the affiliated
companies. NanoViricides, Inc., is currently working on anti-viral
drugs to treat a number of diseases, including Zika, H1N1,
influenza, and Ebola, as well as a skin cream for treating
shingles.
"We really appreciate Senator Murphy for visiting us and for
wanting to learn about NanoViricides, Inc. We are excited about the
future opportunities with our highly-effective nanotechnology, and
we're happy to know the Senator is excited as well," said Dr.
Diwan, President and Chairman of the Company.
A press release by the Senator's press office covering the visit
can be found at
http://valley.newhavenindependent.org/archives/entry/murphy_tours_shelton_nanotech_company/.
The quotations herein are reproduced from the same.
The Company can leverage its progress in developing a
broad-spectrum drug candidate against dengue viruses to rapidly
develop a clinically viable drug candidate against the Zika virus,
reported Dr. Diwan to the Senator. He added that the Dengue project
has become a low priority project for the Company due to its
strategic focus on the HerpeCide™ project, and that further work
towards finding a drug candidate against Zika virus, its
pre-clinical development, and later clinical trials could only be
undertaken if external non-dilutive funding becomes available.
Dr. Diwan also reported that the Company is diligently working
on identifying final development candidates in its HerpeCide™
program. The Company believes that its drug candidates against
shingles, herpes cold sores, genital herpes, and ocular herpes
keratitis represent the best opportunities to enter human clinical
trials in the very near future. The Company is presently conducting
studies to determine the best candidates in each of these
indications to take forward into IND-enabling development and
further into human clinical trials (IND = Investigational New
Drug), for licensure globally. He also discussed the Company's
other programs including the FluCide™ and HIVCide™ programs. In the
FluCide program, the Company has developed what may be the world's
first orally available nanomedicine against a virus.
Dr. Diwan explained the Company's "nanoviricide®" platform
technology to the Senator. Antibodies bind to a virus particle only
with two points each. Then the antibody-virus complex must be
handled by the human immune system. The human immune system is
generally dysfunctional when a viral infection becomes severe,
because the viruses are intelligent nanomachines that have
developed many ways of disrupting the immune function. In addition,
viruses, especially RNA viruses, change rapidly to develop
resistance against antibodies, and even cocktails of antibodies,
making them ineffective in the field. This has happened many times,
most notably during the Ebola epidemic of 2014. In contrast, a
nanoviricide displays a multitude of the same site to which the
virus binds in order to gain access to a cell. Further, the
nanoviricide wraps around and strips the virus, thus rendering it
incapable of infecting a cell, without requiring the patient's
immune system to be fully functional. Thus, the nanoviricide
platform is a step beyond antibodies. A virus would not readily
mutate away from the nanoviricide drug, and if it does so, it would
become less effective in causing an infection as well, provided the
ligands are properly designed to mimic the cellular receptor of the
virus.
Dr. Diwan stressed that finding a clinically viable drug
candidate against the Zika virus could take as little as three to
six months, leveraging upon the Company's broad-spectrum dengue
drug development work, if a virus-binding ligand from our
anti-dengue library works against the Zika virus. Dr. Diwan further
reported that the Company has acquired several Zika virus strains
in its BSL-2 certified virology laboratory, and that Dr.
Brian Friedrich, the Company's
Virologist, has already developed the cell culture assays that can
help determine if a ligand is active against the Zika virus. Dr.
Friedrich has performed drug screening of hundreds of candidates
against several viruses including alphaviruses, bunyaviruses, and
filoviruses (namely, Ebola and Marburg), to discover potential
therapeutics, while he was at United States Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Brian has also worked
extensively on Flaviviruses, specifically West Nile Virus, while at
University of Texas Medical Branch
(UTMB). Dengue viruses as well as the Zika virus belong to the
Flavivirus family.
The Company has previously said that in its HerpeCide™ program,
it is currently developing drugs against four different herpesviral
disease indications, namely, (i) "Cold sores" caused by Herpes
Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1), (ii) Shingles caused by re-awakening of
the chickenpox virus (Varicella Zoster Virus, VZV), (iii) Ocular
herpes keratitis which is caused by HSV-1 or HSV-2, and (iv)
"Genital ulcers" caused by HSV-2. All of these drugs are
being developed as topical treatments.
The Company has previously identified a drug candidate that
demonstrated substantially complete protection to mice lethally
infected with HSV-1 H129 neurotropic strain that produces
zosteriform disease in the animals. while in the same study, only
58% of acyclovir treated mice survived. The study was repeated at a
different facility with similar results.
About NanoViricides:
NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage
company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for
antiviral 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
which 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.
Contact:
NanoViricides, Inc.
Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH
"eugene@nanoviricides.com"
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150107/167444LOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nanoviricides-reports-on-senator-murphys-visit-to-the-companys-shelton-campus-300318153.html
SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.