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news.NexBio has been awarded a $6 million phase II grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to further test the company's lead drug candidate, Fludase, for the prevention and treatment of influenza.
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The drug candidate prevents all types and strains of influenza virus from entering the airway epithelial cells, including avian influenza as well as para-influenza viruses. It aims at providing broad-spectrum protection, improved clinical efficacy, reduced likelihood of drug resistance, and a cost effective medicine for influenza.
Fludase will not require annual updates as with influenza vaccines, and therefore, it can be stockpiled for both annual influenza epidemics and emergency use for future influenza pandemics.
“The US government’s strong support has been vital to NexBio’s R&D programs on influenza,” says Dr Fang, NexBio’s chief medical officer. “The mounting threat of an imminent influenza pandemic, the unreliable vaccine supplies for recent influenza epidemics, and increasing viral resistance to the limited selection of antiviral drugs have all added urgency to our cause.”
Influenza remains the most common cause of medically attended acute respiratory illness. An influenza pandemic with an H5N1 (avian) strain could be imminent, and is one of the biggest challenges facing public health systems worldwide.
The shortage of influenza vaccine in recent years, along with the unavailability of a vaccine for the H5N1 influenza virus, and the emergence of strains resistant to current antiviral compounds, have caused increasingly serious concerns regarding this imminent influenza pandemic.