NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC.OB) (the "Company"), announced today that the Company’s CEO, Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, has been invited to participate in a panel discussion at the Influenza Congress USA 2009, in Washington DC on November 19th (www.terrapinn.com/usaflu). The discussion will center on the “Evolving Role of Anti-Virals” in influenza treatment.
Dr. Seymour will review the Company’s recent in vivo studies against influenza. The success of these studies has led the Company to consolidate its anti-influenza drug programs into a single, pan-influenza drug, “FluCide™”. This single drug is expected to be highly effective against all forms of influenza A, including the recent “swine flu” 2009/CA/H1N1 strain, seasonal flu strains, as well as H5N1 bird flu strains feared to be capable of creating a devastating pandemic, and other highly pathogenic strains on the horizon.
A “pan-influenza” drug is widely sought in order to enable treating infections from novel influenza viruses. It is well known that pandemics can be caused by novel strains of influenza. Fortunately the current “swine flu” H1N1/2009 pandemic is now believed to cause fatality rates comparable to seasonal influenzas. However, influenza viruses are known to change rapidly. New influenza viruses are often generated by mixing of genetic material from existing influenza viruses, known as “reassortments”. Such changes can lead to a novel virus that is capable of causing a wide-spread pandemic accompanied by a high fatality rate. In addition, mutations are known to have led to influenza strains resistant to existing anti-influenza drugs. The Company believes that FluCide is designed to minimize the possibility of resistant mutations.
All of the Company’s anti-influenza studies to date have been conducted by independent external investigators.
Dr. Seymour will join other industry panelists in the “Evolving Role of Anti-Virals” session to discuss drug resistance, drug efficacy and clinical development of anti-viral treatments for influenza. The panelists and participants include pharmaceutical and biotech decision makers and executives as well as government and regulatory agency representatives from a number of countries.
This conference is designed to bring together key stakeholders from the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, as well as governmental science and regulatory segments to discuss appropriate responses to the evolving influenza pandemic, according to the organizers.
A call for robust H5N1 influenza preparedness and response