NanoViricides, Inc. Summarizes Progress over the Past Year
WEST HAVEN, Conn., Apr 06, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC.OB) (the "Company"), is providing a summary of its achievements over the past 12 months.
Most significantly, the Company reported in June, 2008, that animals treated with its anti-HIV lead drug candidate exhibited survival time superior to that of animals treated with the standard three drug oral cocktail called HAART. These studies employed the well established SCID-Hu Thy/Liv mouse model and were conducted by KARD Scientific, Inc. The Company plans to perform additional studies to obtain further detailed information regarding the effect of the nanoviricide drug candidates on HIV in vivo.
NanoViricides, Inc. has reported in May, 2008, that its anti-EKC (epidemic keratoconjunctivitis) drug candidate exhibited excellent clinical improvement in an ophthalmic adenovirus infection animal model of this disease. These studies were conducted by scientists at the Feinstein Institute of Medical Research (FIMR), part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. These studies were presented by the FIMR scientists at the 42nd annual meeting of the Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group (OMIG) in Atlanta, Georgia, in November 2008. In addition, evaluation of our ophthalmic anti-herpes nanoviricide drug candidates will begin shortly at a renowned School of Veterinary Medicine in the US.
The Company further reports satisfactory progress in its anti-Rabies program. These studies are continuing at the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Company is presently in discussions with an independent research facility to perform anti-H5N1 animal studies with the Company's drug candidates that were highly successful against H5N1 Clade 1 and Clade 2 in cell cultures. These nanoviricides were also found to be highly effective against common influenza (H1N1) in animal models.
The Company has previously reported positive results for its Ebola program. The first part of the program consisted of cell culture studies of the effect of nanoviricides against Ebola virus. Several nanoviricide drug candidates showed very high efficacy against Ebola in these studies. These studies were conducted by scientists at the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Subsequently, the Company was invited to submit a grant application to the TMTI program of the Department of Defense (DoD) and did so this January. The objective of the grant application is to further develop both the Ebola and Dengue programs of the Company. The DoD is interested in further development of our broad-spectrum nanoviricides in order to minimize stockpiling costs while still achieving high efficacies against a broad range of viruses.
The Company previously reported that it has signed certain agreements regarding further development of its eye drug candidate. In addition, several other potential collaboration partners have expressed a strong interest in pursuing co-development opportunities for the Company's other drug candidates. The Company is actively pursuing these opportunities.
"We have attained strong positive achievements in the past twelve months in all of our drug development programs," said Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, CEO of the Company, adding, "We are confident that we will achieve further successes in our drug development and commercialization programs during the next calendar year as well."
