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| [January 15, 2013] |
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NanoViricides Update: FluCide Drug Candidates Significantly Superior to Tamiflu in Animal Studies Against H3N2 and H1N1 viruses - Company announces that cGMP Facility Project has Entered Detailed Design Phase
WEST HAVEN, Conn. --(Business Wire)--
NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC)
(the "Company") provides an update on its influenza program. The Company
states that in a highly lethal animal model against an H3N2 Influenza
virus strain, very similar to the current dominant influenza strain, the
Company's oral anti-influenza drug candidate has shown significantly
superior efficacy to Tamiflu® (oseltamivir). This oral anti-influenza
drug candidate and its related injectable drug variant have both shown
significantly superior efficacy to Tamiflu against influenza A H1N1
strain in the same animal model. The H1N1 strain we used is of the same
type as the 2009 epidemic influenza virus, although not the same strain.
The Company has previously reported on these studies.
The Company also announced that a highly optimized floor plan for the
cGMP production facility for its nanoviricide® drugs is now completed by
the design team. The design team has been working together for some time
before agreements with the various team members were formalized by the
Company. The Company has been working on enabling cGMP facilities for
its drug candidates in order to proceed further into the FDA regulatory
process.
"The need for an effective, broad-spectrum, anti-influenza drug cannot
be overstated," said Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, CEO of the Company,
adding, "The current 2012 influenza season is already considered to be
an epidemic. The current vaccine did not work well even though the same
strain of H3N2 that is causing serious cases, was included in the
vaccine mix. Vaccine effectiveness is only around 60%. In the previous
2009 epidemic, the virus swept the world long before a vaccine could
become available. The 2009 virus was a novel strain, even though it was
a subtype of H1N1. Vaccines are highly specific (narrow-spectrum)
because they elicit antibodies in the human host, and antibodies are by
nature very specific to their target."
"We have clearly demonstrated that the design platform technology for
nanoviricides allows development of powerful broad-spectrum antiviral
drugs," said Anil R. Diwan, PhD, President and Chairman of the Company,
"We have developed a small chemical ligand that mimics both the
mammalian (or a-2,6-) and avian (or a-2,3) forms of the native sialic
acid receptor of influenza viruses. We can design a nanoviricide to
exhibit seveal ligands at a single point, and each nanomicelle may
exhibit several hundred ligands on its small surface. The ligands are
designed to look very much like (mimic) the sialic acid to the influenza
viruses, and the high density of the ligands would force the virus to
land onto the nanoviricide and get destroyed by the hidden 'tails' of
the nanomicelle that snap out and merge into the viral surface lipid
coat."
Binding to sialic acid on the cell surface is a completely conserved
property of all influenza viruses. The avian influenza viruses tend to
prefer binding to the a-2,3- variant of sialic acid, whereas those
causing disease in humans tend to prefer binding to the a-2,6 variant.
Pigs and some other species serve as "mixing species" where both the
avian and mammalian viruses can grow, and further, avian viruses can
mutate to mammalian viruses.
The Company has previously reported that its anti-influenza drug
candidates have reduced viral loads from tens to hundreds of times lower
levels than oseltamivir (Tamiflu®), depending upon the particulars of
the experiment. The FluCide™ oral and injectable drug candidates also
protected the lungs of the animals much better than did oseltamivir,
indicating a clear benefit. The protection from influenza virus was
clearly reflected in the strong increase in survival time in the
FluCide-treated animals as compared to oseltamivir. Mice serve only as a
"test tube" in these studies, since our drugs are designed to attack the
virus particles directly. Thus these positive results in animal studies
are expected to correlate well with the human clinical trials.
"We are rapidly advancing towards our goal of filing an IND with the FDA
for Influenza based on the guidance we received in our previous pre-IND
meeting with the FDA," said Anil R. Diwan, President of the Company.
About
NanoViricides:
NanoViricides,
Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com)
is a development stage company that is creating special purpose
nanomaterials for viral 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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