NanoViricides Signs Master Service Agreement With Southern Research Institute

NanoViricides has signed a ‘Master Service Agreement’ with the Southern Research Institute (Southern Research), Birmingham. The agreement will allow Southern Research to perform testing of the company’s anti-Influenza and anti-HIV drug candidates.

Reportedly, a panel of different influenza viruses including the current novel H1N1/2009 ‘Swine Flu’ strain, H5N1, and other highly pathogenic strains and seasonal influenza strains will be used to evaluate effectiveness of the company’s anti-influenza nanoviricides.

Previously in preliminary studies the company has successfully tested several anti-Influenza nanoviricides against H1N1 ands two clades of H5N1. The company has previously reported that FluCide was more than 10 times (1,000%) superior to oseltamivir (Tamiflu, Roche) in a lethal animal model of H1N1 infection.

The company is now developing a single pan-Influenza drug under the FluCide program. The company has now consolidated these three programs in order to develop a single anti-Influenza drug without compromising the high levels of efficacy and safety of the previous three separate drug candidates. The new pan-Influenza nanoviricide drug candidates will be evaluated by Southern Research. In vitro cell culture evaluations will be performed initially, as is customary.

Earlier the studies have shown that several of the company’s nanoviricide drug candidates were more than 25 times (2,500%) superior to a three-drug HAART cocktail in a standard SCID-hu Thy/Liv mouse model study of HIV-I infection. In particular, treatment with only 150mg/kg nanoviricides, as opposed to 4,200mg/kg HAART drug cocktail (ie 28 times greater dosage of HAART cocktail) resulted in viral load decrease that was equal to or better than HAART, and double-positive CD4+/CD8+ T cell counts that were equal to or better than HAART. In addition, the nanoviricides were superior to the HAART cocktail in all parameters evaluated.

Significantly, the nanoviricide treatment was given only during the first week in this six-week anti-HIV study, whereas HAART treatment was continued daily. These anti-HIV nanoviricide drug candidates will be further evaluated in cell culture studies at Southern Research Institute, advancing towards our goal of filing pre-IND and later IND applications to the FDA.

Anil Diwan, president of NanoViricides, said: “We have a large number of highly active backup drug candidates for each of the viruses we are working on, unlike most other companies that have one or very few active drug candidates. Nanoviricides technology enables us to develop novel, effective drug candidates in a very short time frame.”