Researchers investigate antimicrobial activity of Aganocide compounds against H1N1

Fears over the influenza A virus (H1N1; sometimes referred to as swine flu) have motivated researchers to investigate the antimicrobial activity of the Aganocide® compounds against viruses. In a study presented at this year's Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), a team led by Professor Markus Nagl, MD of Medical University of Innsbruck and including D. Debabov, PhD and K. Hybiske, PhD of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals evaluated the in vitro virucidal activity of three compounds: N-chlorotaurine (NCT), a compound produced by human phagocytes; and two NCT analogs, NVC-612 and NVC-422.

The research team conducted tests on three separate strains of influenza A, known as H1N1 Singapore, H1N1 California, and H1N1 Apr-8-38. They determined that NCT, NVC-612 and NVC-422 all exhibited virucidal activity, inactivating all three strains. Specifically, among the various test results, 5.5 mM NCT and NVC-612 inactivated H1N1 Singapore to the detection limit after 5 minutes of incubation time; H1N1 Singapore and H1N1 California were inactivated by 55 mM NCT and NVC-612 to the detection limit within 1 minute; and a 1-hour treatment with 40 mM NVC-422 at pH 4 resulted in complete inactivation of H1N1 Apr-8-38.

Dr. Andreas Jekle, Senior Scientist at NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, said, "This study shows that NovaBay's Aganocide compounds inactivate the H1N1 virus strains in vitro. NVC-612 completely inhibited the viral activity of all three H1N1 strains tested within five minutes in a dose-dependent manner."

Based on these experimental results, the research team concluded that further investigation into potential consumer products and therapeutic use of these agents are warranted.

"The substantial morbidity and mortality caused by H1N1, combined with increasing drug resistance, show the urgent medical need for novel, effective medicines against influenza," Dr. Jekle said. "These results suggest that NovaBay's Aganocide compounds may have utility in this unmet medical need."