SHELTON, Conn., March 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE American: NNVC) (the "Company")
has announced that it has expanded its in vivo testing
agreement with the University of
Wisconsin to encompass testing its topical anti-herpes
agents in animal models of HSV-induced dermal, ocular and genital
herpes virus infections.
NanoViricides has previously reported excellent effectiveness of
its earlier drug candidates in the HerpeCide™ program against the
highly pathogenic, neurotropic strain of HSV-1, namely H129,
leading to full survival of lethally infected mice. Since then, the
Company has further improved these candidates. The resulting
drug candidates have shown excellent efficacy in cell cultures
against HSV-1, HSV-2, as well as VZV (aka the chickenpox virus,
which is also the cause of shingles).
The Company's drug development in the HerpeCide program for the
dermal topical treatment of shingles is advancing rapidly towards
the clinical stage. This is primarily a result of successful
testing in a highly responsive collaboration with Professor
Jennifer Moffat's Lab at the Upstate
Medical Center, State University of New
York (SUNY) at Syracuse, NY, as
previously reported by the Company.
The Company intends to advance the same drug candidates or
closely related variants for the treatment of "cold sores"
(orolabial herpes, primarily caused by HSV-1); genital ulcers
caused by HSV-2, external eye infections caused primarily by HSV-1
(herpes keratitis), and internal ocular herpesvirus infections that
are thought to lead to acute retinal necrosis (ARN).
The studies will be performed in the laboratory of Professor
Curtis Brandt, Collaborative
Ophthalmic Research Laboratories, 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.
Both Dr. Brandt and his staff have extensive experience working
with different strains of the herpes virus, in relevant animal
models.
"Successful testing of our drug candidates in animal models of
the dermal, ocular, and genital herpesvirus diseases at the
University of Wisconsin would enable us
to rapidly move these drug candidates towards human clinical
trials," said Dr. Anil R. Diwan, President and Chairman of the
Company, adding, "This will further bolster our pipeline and
increase the total value of our HerpeCide assets several-fold, with
minimal additional investments. The expansion of our agreement with
the CORL at University of Wisconsin is
thus very significant for creating substantially increased business
value."
The Company believes that its HerpeCide program is developing
towards as many as five different indications as listed
earlier.
The incidence of Herpes virus infection is increasing in
the United States; the most common
sites of infections are orolabial (cold sores), ocular and genital
herpes. There is evidence that approximately half of the U.S.
population may be infected and approximately 25% of those infected
actually display clinical symptoms of infections. Two types of
herpes virus are primarily responsible, HSV-1 and HSV-2. The
Company believes that its anti-HSV agents are effective against all
of HSV-1, HSV-2, and VZV.
Ocular herpes infection causes eye pain, blurred vision,
tearing, redness, and sensitivity to bright light. Infection
results in conjunctivitis, acute retinal necrosis and keratitis,
depending on the location and severity of the infection. Herpes
keratitis is one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S. It
is estimated that there are over 50,000 cases of ocular herpes
disease each year. Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease
that has infected over 50 million people in the US alone. Current
standard of care consists of the use of oral acyclovir or its
analogues. There are no safe and effective topical treatments for
shingles, genital herpes, or ocular herpes. In addition, treatments
that can reduce recurrence rates of orolabial herpes ("cold sores")
and of genital herpes are highly sought after.
The Company has previously reported that the successful
treatment results of evaluation of its anti-herpes candidates in a
disease-relevant animal model of ARN were presented at the annual
meeting of the Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group (OMIG) of
the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans on November
10th , 2017, by Vivien
Boniuk, MD, consulting ophthalmologist to the Company.
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.