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NanoViricides, Inc. H5N1 Bird Flu Studies Presented at Novel Vaccines Conference

Posted on: Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 09:00 CDT

NanoViricides, Inc. (Pink Sheets: NNVC) revealed new details of its work in the fight against Bird Flu at a gathering of cutting-edge researchers at the Cambridge Healthcare Institute's conference "Novel Vaccines: Bridging Research, Development and Production" in Boston last week.

"Nanoviricides, Inc. intends to define the next plateau of antiviral therapeutics," Dr. Anil Diwan, the Company's President, told scientists, explaining the Company's work combating H5N1 (avian influenza), the common human flu, as well as the Company's approach against other viral threats such as Hepatitis C and HIV.

"We now have three nanoviricides(TM), all effective against H5N1, entering further detailed studies with the goal of filing INDs," he added, explaining, "the data were fully consistent with our design expectations." Thus, AviFluCide-I(TM) is designed to be specific to H5N1, and FluCide-I(TM) is designed to work against all influenzas, whereas FluCide-HP(TM) is designed to work against the entire highly pathogenic influenza subgroup that poses continuously re-emerging and changing pandemics threats.

Highlighting new information gleaned from H5N1 preclinical studies recently completed in Vietnam, Dr. Diwan showed that many nanoviricide(TM) candidates were effective at as low as 5-nanomolar concentration levels in cell culture experiments. Typically, an early developmental drug that proves effective at concentrations less than 500 nanomolars is considered a strong candidate for FDA approval as an "Investigational New Drug (IND)" applicant.

A nanoviricide(TM) is made by attaching a ligand (targeting molecule) to a core nanomaterial that forms the "viricidal engine" of the assembly. The ligand directs the viricidal engine to find and bind to a specific type of virus. The viricidal engine is designed to be capable of neutralizing most enveloped viruses. Dr. Diwan showed that attaching a ligand to the viricidal engine leads to as much as 50X (5,000%) greater effectiveness compared to the ligand itself. Scientists attending the conference felt that this could have significant implications for developing greatly improved drugs by resurrecting compounds that may have proven marginal or failed earlier.

Bird flu fatalities in 2006 have already topped those in 2005, with Indonesia reporting 60 human cases, and 1 in 5 fatalities. The Centers for Disease Control report that common influenza alone kills 36,000 people in the USA and causes 200,000 people to be hospitalized. "The influenzas represent a multi-billion dollar market if effective drugs can be created even if no epidemics occur," said Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, the Company CEO.

"We believe NanoViricides, Inc. has the best current drugs in development against bird flu (H5N1), high path influenza, and common influenza," said Dr. Diwan, while acknowledging that "additional studies are needed to further characterize these drugs."

About NanoViricides - http://www.nanoviricides.com

NanoViricides, Inc. is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for viral therapy. A NanoViricide(TM) is a specially designed, flexible, nanomaterial that contains an encapsulated active pharmaceutical ingredient and targets it to a specific type of virus, like a guided missile. NanoViricide drugs are designed to block and dismantle the virus particles before they can infect a cell, thereby controlling viremia. This is a completely novel approach that is proving to be superior to existing approaches. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors including the success of the Company's research and development strategy, the availability of adequate financing, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies and the uncertainties related to the regulatory process.

Source: Business Wire

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