Aug 21 2014
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a leading developer of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, today announced the publication of data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal which highlights positive results in an animal model of Marburg virus infection enabled by Tekmira's lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology.
Tekmira, along with its collaborators at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, USA, published data demonstrating complete protection of nonhuman primates against lethal Marburg virus-Angola hemorrhagic fever (MARV-Angola) when treatment began even up to three days following infection. The study appears in the August 20, 2014 edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"These positive findings build upon our extensive work in anti-viral RNAi therapeutics and provide further validation of our strong LNP product platform, which includes RNAi therapeutics addressing chronic Hepatitis B infection and lethal hemorrhagic fever viruses," said Dr. Mark Murray, Tekmira's President and CEO.
The study was designed to determine whether it is possible to protect animals against a lethal MARV-Angola infection when treatment was started at a point when animals have detectable levels of the virus in their system and already show the first clinical signs of disease.
Funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services supported this research.
Source: http://www.tekmira.com/