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Panacos Presents Progress on HIV Fusion Inhibitor Program at International AIDS Conference

Posted on: Monday, 14 August 2006, 09:00 CDT

Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:PANC), a biotechnology company dedicated to developing the next generation of antiviral therapeutic products, today announced it will present an update on its HIV fusion inhibitor program at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. A presentation describing the Company's discovery of potent small molecule fusion inhibitors is scheduled for Thursday, August 17 from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.

Fusion inhibitors are an emerging class of HIV therapeutics designed to have activity against HIV strains resistant to the major classes of currently approved HIV drugs. Drug resistance is the major cause of treatment failure in HIV-infected patients. FUZEON, a peptide-based injectable drug, is the only currently-marketed fusion inhibitor. At this time, there are no approved small molecule HIV fusion inhibitors that can be administered orally. An oral, small molecule fusion inhibitor would therefore provide new therapeutic options for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

The Panacos presentation at the AIDS Conference describes the successful use of a novel, proprietary high-throughput screening assay to identify HIV fusion inhibitors. Fusion of the HIV virion with the human cell is one of the earliest steps in the HIV life cycle. The Panacos assay identifies compounds that inhibit this process by blocking conformational changes, or alterations in molecular shape, in the HIV surface proteins that drive the fusion process. Using this approach, Panacos scientists have identified several structurally distinct families of small molecules that specifically inhibit HIV-1 infection with very high (nanomolar) potency. Animal studies have shown that several of these compounds are orally bioavailable.

Panacos has confirmed the mechanism of action of these compounds in additional functional assays. These experiments indicate that Panacos' fusion inhibitors have a unique molecular target within the viral surface proteins, distinct from that of FUZEON. This is consistent with the finding that the Company's compounds have activity against most FUZEON-resistant HIV strains, a characteristic which may provide additional clinical utility.

Dr. Graham Allaway, Panacos President and COO commented, "We are very pleased with the progress we have made over the past year in our fusion inhibitor program. We are currently optimizing the pharmaceutical properties of our most promising compounds, with the goal of identifying a drug candidate to enter human clinical testing next year."

About Panacos

Panacos is developing the next generation of anti-infective products through discovery and development of small molecule oral drugs for the treatment of HIV and other major human viral diseases. HIV infects approximately 1.7 million people in North America and Western Europe and approximately 40 million people worldwide. Approximately 650,000 patients are treated annually for HIV in the United States and Western Europe. Resistance to currently available drugs is one of the most pressing problems in HIV therapy and the leading cause of treatment failure. Panacos' proprietary discovery technologies are designed to combat resistance by focusing on novel targets in the virus life cycle, including virus maturation and virus fusion.

Panacos' lead candidate, bevirimat (PA-457), is the first in a new class of oral HIV therapeutics under development called maturation inhibitors, discovered by Panacos scientists and their academic collaborators. Based on its novel mechanism of action, bevirimat is designed to have potent activity against a broad range of HIV, including strains that are resistant to existing classes of drugs. The Company has completed seven clinical studies of bevirimat in over 300 subjects, showing significant reductions in viral load in HIV-infected subjects and a promising safety profile.

FUZEON is a registered trademark of Roche Laboratories Inc. and Trimeris Inc.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements made herein, including those relating to development of fusion inhibitors, the potential results of treatment with bevirimat and future clinical trials and clinical practice are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks as set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Source: Business Wire

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