NanoViricides Reports That It Has Shipped anti-Ebola Drug Candidates For Testing to a BSL-4 Hi-Security Biocontainment Laboratory
WEST HAVEN, Conn., Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE MKT: NNVC) (the "Company"), a nanomedicine company developing anti-viral drugs, reported that it has shipped several anti-Ebola nanoviricide® drug candidates to a hi-security bio-containment facility in the US that is capable of performing evaluation of these drug candidates in the required biological safety level 4 (BSL-4) environment.
The Company has designed these novel anti-Ebola broad-spectrum drug candidates such that they are expected to continue to work in spite of mutations in the field.
Using NanoViricides's rapid design platform, it took only 4 months from design to synthesis of the multiple drug candidates. These candidates are designed to attack the Ebola virus at the site on the virus that does not change in spite of mutations because the virus uses this site to bind to its cognate receptor in human cells, namely NPC1. Some of the candidates are designed to attack another conserved site on the Ebola virus that is thought to be involved in the fusion process of the virus required for it to successfully enter the cell.
The Company already has the capability of producing sufficient quantities of a successful anti-Ebola drug in its new cGMP-capable facility in Shelton, CT, for combating the current Ebola epidemic. This pilot scale manufacturing facility will be able to supply the successful nanoviricides drug candidate in quantities needed for the treatment of patients in West Africa infected with the Ebola virus. NanoViricides, Inc. is one of the very few companies that has the ability produce its drug candidates at this full-response scale.
The Company had previously developed anti-Ebola drug candidates that demonstrated the validity and potential of the Company's approach, based on cell culture and animal testing conducted at USAMRIID in 2008-2009. At that time, the cognate receptor of the Ebola virus was still unknown and the Company used certain heuristic approaches to design potential drug candidates for the purpose of validating our approach. The Company had to de-prioritize this development in order to focus on the development of its lead drug candidate, Injectable FluCide™, for treatment of hospitalized patients with influenza. The current outbreak in Africa has unequivocally demonstrated the need for an effective, broad-spectrum, anti-Ebola therapeutic. NanoViricides engaged into the anti-Ebola drug development with the highest priority in order to respond to this challenge recently.
About NanoViricides: "
NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for antiviral therapy. The Company's novel nanoviricide® class of drug candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle them. The Company is developing drugs against a number of viral diseases including H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, oral and genital Herpes, viral diseases of the eye including EKC and herpes keratitis, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus, among others.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors. Certain statements in this release, and other written or oral statements made by NanoViricides, Inc. are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed by the company from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors, they may include the following: demonstration and proof of principle in pre-clinical trials that a nanoviricide is safe and effective; successful development of our product candidates; our ability to seek and obtain regulatory approvals, including with respect to the indications we are seeking; the successful commercialization of our product candidates; and market acceptance of our products.
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SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.
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