NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC.OB) (the "Company"), reported today that it has signed a “Master Service Agreement” with the Southern Research Institute (“Southern Research”), Birmingham, AL. Southern Research is a well established, prestigious institution that has performed preclinical testing services for several vaccines and antivirals.
This agreement will allow Southern Research to perform testing of the Company’s anti-Influenza and anti-HIV drug candidates.
Anti-Influenza Testing
A panel of different influenza viruses including the current novel H1N1/2009 “Swine Flu” strain, H5N1, and other highly pathogenic strains as well as seasonal influenza strains will be used to evaluate effectiveness of the Company’s anti-influenza nanoviricides. Southern Research is registered with the CDC to receive and transfer “select agents” (certain extremely dangerous pathogens), including highly pathogenic avian influenza, and has received the current novel Influenza A/California/4/2009 H1N1 isolate ("swine flu") from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Previously in preliminary studies the Company has successfully tested several anti-Influenza nanoviricides against H1N1 as well as 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. This is made possible by new ligands that we designed to be highly effective against all influenza A viruses. This development is based both on our previous studies and the use of molecular modeling and rational drug design methodologies. Previously, the Company had three different programs to tackle seasonal, highly pathogenic, and H5N1 avian influenza using separate, highly effective drugs. 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.
Anti-HIV Testing