SHELTON, Conn., June 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides, Inc.,
(NYSE MKT: NNVC) (the "Company"), a pioneer in developing
anti-viral nanomedicine drugs, reports that its topical drug
candidates in development for the treatment of shingles have
demonstrated excellent inhibition of the causative virus with
practically no cytotoxicity in cell culture assays using multiple
cell lines.
Two of the nanoviricide drug candidates in the HerpeCide™
program demonstrated almost complete inhibition of the
varicella-zoster virus (VZV) at the highest drug doses, whereas
acyclovir at the same drug dose exhibited partial inhibition of the
virus. These comparative studies indicated that the antiviral
effect of the herpecide drug candidates was almost five times
superior to that of acyclovir. These studies were conducted using
ARPE-19 cell line, which is a sensitive retinal cell line.
Additional studies with another cell line, namely BS-C-1 produced
comparable results. No cytotoxicity was observed at any of the
doses tested for the herpecide drug candidates.
"We are excited with the excellent effectiveness and safety of
these shingles antiviral drug candidates," said Dr. Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, CEO of the Company,
adding, "We anticipate validation of our approach in skin culture
studies as well. The human skin studies are already in progress in
Professor Moffat's Lab at the SUNY Syracuse Upstate Medical Center.
Taken together, these results will put us on a quick path towards
an IND filing."
"We had strong confidence that the herpecide antivirals that we
developed against HSV-1 would be effective against VZV as well.
These studies validate our approach," said Anil R. Diwan, PhD,
President and Chairman of the Company, adding, "Importantly, the
drug candidates that were successful against VZV are simpler to
manufacture than our drug candidates that were previously found to
be successful against HSV-1 in animal studies. We believe that this
will reduce our workload towards an IND filing and help accelerate
our progress to the clinic."
Previously, the Company has demonstrated that treatment with
certain herpecide drug candidates led to complete survival of small
animals lethally infected with the aggressive and neurotropic HSV-1
strain H129c, wherein all of the untreated animals died. Those
animal studies also reproducibly demonstrated dramatic improvements
in clinical symptoms associated with herpes simplex virus
infection, as illustrated by a complete absence of zosteriform
spreading. Those animal studies were performed by TransPharm
Preclinical Solutions ("TransPharm"), a pre-clinical services
company in Jackson, MI, and by the
laboratory of Dr. Ken S. Rosenthal
at Northeast Ohio Medical University where Dr. Rosenthal then
continued as a Professor Emeritus. Dr. Rosenthal is a leading
researcher in herpes virus anti-viral agents and vaccines. He is
now Professor of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, at the
Roseman University of Health Sciences, Summerlin Campus, Las
Vegas, NV.
The Company thereafter expanded its HerpeCide™ program into
development of topical treatments for (a) herpes labials (HSV-1),
(b) genital herpes (HSV-2), (c) shingles (VZV), and (d) herpes
keratitis. Of these, the shingles treatment program is currently
the most advanced and is rapidly moving towards clinical candidate
selection.
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
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.. 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.