NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC.OB) (the "Company"), announced today that Anil Diwan, PhD, President of the Company presented a talk at NanoBusiness 2009 - the 8th annual NanoBusiness Conference in Chicago.
Dr. Diwan described the salient features of nanoviricides technology. “Viruses can be fooled,” he said, adding, “We use their own smarts to attack them. The site at which a virus binds to the cell surface never changes, no matter how much the virus itself changes. We mimic this site, and the cell surface, so the virus particle can bind to the nanoviricide thinking it is binding to a cell. We anticipate very little escape mutation problem, if we do this successfully.”
He then explained that FluCide™, was found to be as much ten to twenty times (10X to 20X or 1,000% to 2,000%) superior to oseltamivir (Tamiflu®, Roche), in lethal influenza virus challenge administered to mice. These studies have been repeated and the Company has performed SAR (structure-activity-relationship) studies to develop the best drug candidates against influenza. “Imagine the day when we will never have to develop vaccines against influenza,” he said, adding, “That’s what FluCide™ would achieve.”
He also described that HIVCide™ was found to be more than twenty-five times (25X or 2,500%) superior to the entire three drug HAART cocktail in a standard SCID-Hu mouse model study. The mice were treated with only 150 mg/kg of nanoviricides and this treatment both led to improvement in double-positive CD4+/CD8+ T cells and reduction in HIV-1 viral load that was equal to or slightly better than that in HAART-treated mice. The HAART treated mice received a total drug load of 4,200 mg/kg, indicating superior results with HIVCide. Moreover, HAART cocktail caused significant toxic effects, whereas the nanoviricides produced no clinical adverse signs in this study.
Dr. Diwan also described the high efficacy of EKCCide™ in a rabbit model, which caused complete clinical resolution of adenoviral kerato-conjunctivitis in as little as 2.5 days. The Company is not aware of any other drug candidate that had shown clinical improvement in this disease in any earlier animal studies.
Dr. Diwan also described the Social Responsibility programs of the Company, which include drug development against Dengue viruses, Rabies virus, as well as Biodefense programs that include broad-spectrum drug development against hemorrhagic viruses including Ebola/Marburg, and the ADIF™ “Accurate Drug In Field” technology against novel and emerging viruses.
“The Company has continued its development of FluCide, HIVCide, and the ocular nanoviricide eye drops, which are programs of very high commercial interest,” said Dr. Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, commenting further that, “We continue to invest minimal amounts of Company funds in the Social Responsibility and Biodefense projects, and we will require public funding for the same.”