TGV Laboratories Says New Drug Holds Promise Against Zika

NEW YORK, March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A New York pharmaceutical company, TGV-Laboratories, says it has unlocked the key for breaking down the protective barriers of viruses, a breakthrough that it believes can be developed into antiviral drugs to treat Zika and host of life-threatening viruses, including Ebola, HIV and Bird Flu.

The company's lead researchers, Victor and George Tetz, said lab tests show their discovery, called MV-4, can break down the protective barriers of both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, indicating it can be developed into targeted synthetic antiviral drugs to kill a wide variety viruses.

In laboratory tests, the researchers said they were able to kill influenza viruses, HIV, Herpes viruses, polio and adenoviruses, and are eager to test their discovery against Zika, Ebola and Bird Flu.

In a letter to the CDC, the researchers outlined their findings, and offered their help in developing new treatments against these global health threats.

"We are very excited about our findings to date, and are eager to expand the testing of our drugs on these dangerous and highly contagious viruses," said Victor Tetz, scientific head of TGV-Laboratories. "The Zika virus is primarily a mosquito-transmitted infection. However, it was recently isolated from semen, and there is evidence it can be transmitted through sexual intercourse -- opening new frontiers for global spreading and raising the need for an antiviral drug that can attack it at many levels.

"The studies we have conducted to date show MV-4 can inactivate viruses in the outer environment, on human skin and at intravenous administration, so we believe discovery shows huge promise against Zika, Ebola and Bird flu."

TGV Laboratories, along with its Institute of Human Microbiology, are finalizing a paper that details their discovery and what they believe to be its strong potential for safely treating a broad range of life-threatening and non-life threatening viruses. Currently, there are no broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.

MV-4 is the second broad-spectrum drug candidate developed by TGV Laboratories, whose Mul-1867 has shown potential for being developed into drugs that can treat an extensive range of antibiotic-resistant bacterial and fungal infections. TGVs subsidiary, TGV-Inhalonix, recently filed an application with the Food and Drug Administration seeking Orphan Drug Status for Mul-1867 to be tested on cystic fibrosis patients with life-threatening antimicrobial-resistant pulmonary infections.

"Developing broad-spectrum drugs that can treat viruses and the growing list of antibiotic-resistant infections is one of the most important, but elusive, goals in infectious research today," said George Tetz, head of research for the Institute of Human Microbiology. "With MV-4 and Mul-1867, we believe we have unlocked the key for developing the next-generation of antibiotics and anti-viral drugs."

The drugs in TGV's pipeline were discovered as the result of years of research by Victor and George Tetz using a new concept they developed called Pangenome, (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15990697), which acts like a guide that helps mark new therapeutic targets for drugs. The Institute of Human Microbiology assisted TGV with Mul-1867's discovery.

For more information about Victor and George Tetz and TGV-Inhalonix, please contact Jeri Clausing at 505-221-3108, Email; or Denis Senkov, Email.

TGV-Laboratories Group of Companies. (http://tgv-labs.com) is a research-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in New York that provides a broad range of innovative products to treat currently untreatable infectious, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. TGV operates under two divisions: the Division of Drug Discovery & Development and the Division of Medical & Industrial Microbiology.

SOURCE TGV Laboratories