SHELTON, Conn., Nov. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides,
Inc. (NYSE American: NNVC) (the "Company") reports that Dr.
Vivien Boniuk, Consultant in
Ophthalmology at the Company, will present the successful results
of certain anti-herpes nanoviricide treatments for Viral Acute
Retinal Necrosis (v-ARN) at the 2017 Annual meeting of the Ocular
Microbiology and Immunology Group (OMIG) of the American Academy of
Ophthalmology to be held in New Orleans,
LA.
The same lead candidates that the Company has previously found
to be highly effective against VZV in the shingles human skin patch
model in Professor Moffat's Lab at SUNY
Upstate Medical Center were evaluated for efficacy in this
v-ARN mouse model study.
The Company has previously reported that these anti-herpes
nanoviricides were found to be as much as five times more effective
in suppressing viral growth as compared to acyclovir, the standard
of treatment, in VZV infection, in cell culture studies.
Additionally, these nanoviricides were also found to be highly
effective against HSV-1 and HSV-2 in similar cell culture studies
(unpublished results). These studies validate the potential
broad-spectrum anti-herpesvirus nature of these candidates.
Additional successful studies on v-ARN are expected to add a
fifth indication to the Company's growing portfolio of anti-herpes
drug indications, further expanding the potential market. The
Company intends to maximize shareholder value from its
broad-spectrum anti-herpes nanoviricides asset by aggressively
expanding its portfolio of herpesvirus indications. The Company is
currently developing drugs for at least four different indications
based on these broad-spectrum anti-herpes drug candidates, namely:
(i) skin cream for the treatment of shingles (VZV), (ii) skin cream
for the treatment of herpes labialis (HSV-1), (iii) eye drops for
the treatment of herpes keratitis, a disease of the external eye
(HSV-1), and (iv) skin cream for the treatment of genital herpes
(HSV-2).
Importantly, the Company believes that, even as the virus
mutates, it is unlikely to escape a nanoviricide drug. This is
because the virus continues to use the same cellular receptor to
enter and infect the human cells, despite mutations. The Company
strives hard to design virus-binding ligands that mimic the binding
of the virus to the specific receptor on the human cell.
The v-ARN mouse model study was performed in the laboratory of
Professor Curtis Brandt,
Collaborative Ophthalmic Research Laboratorie (CORL), at the
University of Wisconsin. Dr. Brandt is
Professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences,
Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and Director of the Vision
Research Core at the University of
Wisconsin.
Several parameters of HSV-2 induced ARN in the mouse eyes were
examined. These included viral load, body mass, disease rating for
vitreous infiltrate, retinal tissue-level disruption, and retinal
micro-histopathology, over the study time period. The results will
be presented on November
10th, 2017, at the OMIG meeting.
v-ARN is a disease of the retina of the eye caused by various
herpes viruses that leads to severe loss of vision and
blindness. The infecting agent in this study was herpes
simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), the type of herpes virus that also causes
genital herpes.
Viral Acute Retinal Necrosis is characterized by severe ocular
inflammation, retinal necrosis, and a high incidence of retinal
detachment (RD) leading to visual loss and blindness. This disease
is caused by members of the herpesvirus family, including, herpes
simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and herpes
simplex virus (HSV-1). An estimated 50,000 new and recurrent
cases of viral ARN per year are reported in the United States alone.
The Company believes that its broad-spectrum ligands designed
using molecular modeling with certain publicly available herpes
virus models are likely to be effective against HSV-1, HSV-2, as
well as VZV, and possibly against the other herpesviruses as well.
A nanoviricide® is created by chemically connecting a
number of ligands at specific sites along a
"TheraCour®" polymeric chain. The resulting polymers
self-assemble into micelles, decorated with ligands on the outside.
A virus is expected to bind to the ligands, and then get enveloped
by the polymeric micelle. The virus glycoproteins may also
disassemble from the virus in the process. Thus, a nanoviricide is
expected to neutralize a virus particle completely. Antibodies
possess only two points of contact for neutralizing the virus, and
require participation of human immune response. In contrast, a
nanoviricide micelle presents a copious number of virus binding
sites, and is expected to be highly effective in neutralizing a
virus, even without involvement of human immune response.
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 VZV,
oral and genital Herpes, viral diseases of the eye including EKC
and herpes keratitis, H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal
Influenza, HIV, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus,
among others.
About CORL:
CORL is a collaborative team of internationally recognized vision
scientists founded on providing world-class vision research support
for industry at the University of
Wisconsin. CORL understands industry's timeline-driven
culture and can collaborate with industry via fee-for-service
agreements.
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.
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SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.