NanoViricides, Inc.
(OTC BB: NNVC.OB) (the "Company"), a development stage company
that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for viral therapy, announced
today that the Institutional Review Committee of a major research institute
in New York has approved an investigator-initiated in vivo study which will
evaluate certain topical nanoviricide™ eye drug candidates.
This approved project is designed to study the effect of different nanoviricide™
drug candidates on herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection of the cornea. The Company
will be providing the drug candidates free of charge. The principal investigator
is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Albert Einstein School of
Medicine. She has previously conducted an in vivo study that resulted in the
demonstration of a strong clinical effect of certain nanoviricide drug candidates
against adenovirus induced keratoconjunctivitis in rabbit eyes.
There are about 50,000 cases of HSV infection of the cornea in the US alone
each year. It is generally caused by HSV Type I. Many of these cases lead to
substantial scarring of the cornea and significantly reduced vision, which may
necessitate corneal transplantation. Current treatment requires intensive monitoring
and specialized procedures conducted by an ophthalmologist, often lasting several
weeks to months. If the simple eye drops of an anti-herpes nanoviricide candidate
produce rapid clinical resolution of the viral infection, as was found previously
with adenoviral infection of the eye, such nanoviricide treatment could lead
to a significant reduction in the direct health care costs pertaining to treating
this disease. In addition, such an effective treatment could lead to a significant
reduction in the number of corneal transplants required to treat this number
one cause of corneal blindness in the developed world.
NanoViricides'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 H5N1
bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, EKC, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and
Ebola virus, among others.