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news.Preclinical studies of FermaVir Pharmaceuticals' FV-100 pro-drug candidate for the treatment of shingles have shown that oral dosing of the compound produces extremely high concentrations of active compound in the blood.
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These experiments showed that at the highest level of dosing required by the FDA in preclinical studies, levels of the active compound exceeded 50,000 times the EC50 for antiviral activity against varicella zoster, the causative virus for Shingles. The EC50 is a measure of the amount of a compound which inhibits 50% of the virus in vitro.
Significantly, concentrations of the active compound remained well over 100 times the EC50 for over seventy-two hours after dosing, perhaps suggesting that the compound could be developed to be taken in a once-daily regimen.
“Not only does this data confirm our previous oral bioavailability data in another model but it also shows that single doses at the highest levels required by the FDA guidelines show no overt toxicity,” said Dr Geoffrey Henson, CEO of FermaVir. “The data also suggests that we might be able to achieve once a day dosing. This would be very helpful when compared to the currently approved drugs for shingles on the market today which require three to five doses per day.”