NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC.OB) (the "Company"), reports that the Company has been invited to present on January 12th at the Biotech Showcase™, a conference designed to showcase promising companies and technologies for partnering and investment purposes.
“We have received significant interest from many parties”
Dr. Anil Diwan, President of NanoViricides will outline the Company’s technology and the current drug programs.
“We have received significant interest from many parties,” said Eugene Seymour, MD, the CEO of the Company, adding, “and we have already set up several meetings during this Conference with both pharmaceutical companies and investment bankers. However, there can be no assurance that we will reach an agreement with any of the parties or that if we do reach an agreement, it will be on terms favorable to the Company.”
The Company now has four commercially important drugs in its pipeline, targeting a total market size of approximately $40 Billion. These drugs target HIV, all Influenzas, viral diseases of the external Eye, and Herpes Simplex viral infections including cold sores and genital herpes (HSV). In addition, the Company has R&D programs in collaborations with reputed institutions against several Neglected Tropical Diseases and agents of interest for Biosecurity. These include hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola/Marburg, Dengue, and Rabies, among others.
Our current drug programs include a pan-influenza drug candidate, “FluCide™”. This drug was recently reported to be highly effective against H1N1 influenza in an extremely lethal challenge animal model. All animals treated with FluCide(™) were still surviving when all animals treated with oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) were dead in 8 days. FluCide treated animals continued to survive for a whole extra week beyond those receiving extended oseltamivir treatment (14 days). This long survival time in this extremely lethal challenge model would suggest indefinite survival in other standardized animal models, according to experts. No other anti-influenza drugs in development have been tested with such severe lethal challenge. FluCide is designed to be effective against all influenza A strains and mutants. We anticipate FluCide to be effective against highly pathogenic avian influenzas such as H7 and H9, the epidemic bird flu virus H5N1 (various clades), the current novel H1N1/2009 virus, seasonal influenza viruses, and their mutations.
The Company has previously reported that its anti-HIV drug candidate was >25X (or >2,500%) more effective than the oral HAART treatment comprising three drugs, on a drug load basis. This study employed a standard SCID-Hu Thy/Liv mouse model. Human lymphocytes implanted in a mouse, and infected with HIV, are treated with antiviral drugs in this model. It is very important to note that no adverse events were observed in the nanoviricide treated mice, while the HAART-treated mice exhibited clinical signs of side effects. HAART or “highly active anti-retroviral therapy” is a three-drug combination therapy currently in use in human clinical practice, and is regarded as the most effective therapeutic regimen against HIV. If these preliminary results are confirmed in further animal studies and in human clinical trials, the Company believes that HIVCide™ could very well result in a “Functional Cure” for HIV/AIDS.
The Company has reported significant progress in its topical nanoviricide eye drops program. This drug is designed to treat most viral infections of the external eye, including adenoviral epidemic kerato-conjunctivitis (EKC) and herpes keratitis.
The Company also recently reported that it has successfully added a new anti-HSV drug program to its pipeline this year. The Company‘s topical anti-herpes drug candidate has already demonstrated greater than 10,000-fold (>99.99%, or >4 logs) reduction in virus quantity in cell culture models of HSV-1 infection. Animal model studies of topical and genital herpes are planned.
“We are now well poised to further develop our drug candidates with the objective of filing an IND application as soon as possible,” said Dr. Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, CEO of the Company.
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