NanoViricides, Inc. (OTC BB: NNVC) (the "Company") recently reported on its completed animal study that compared its lead anti-HIV candidate HIVCide™, to a HAART (highly active anti retroviral therapy) triple drug cocktail. The cocktail used therein is based on an anti-HIV therapeutic protocol in current practice. The Company has received numerous inquiries for simplified explanation of the results.
“We now intend to apply the same optimization techniques to our lead anti-HIV candidate.”
The Company believes that the anti-HIV nanoviricide acts by a different mechanism than all the current components of HAART therapy regimens. We believe that the nanoviricide binds to a virus particle by mimicking the cellular structures to which the virus binds, as explained in the July 27 press release. As such, the Company anticipates that HIVCide would be able to complement almost any of the various HAART therapy regimens and provide additional therapeutic benefits. The Company believes that such a combination therapy that includes HIVCide would possibly achieve a "functional cure" of HIV/AIDS.
A functional cure is the highly sought after goal of HIV/AIDS therapy at present. After such a treatment protocol, the patient would be able to stop the treatment and lead a normal life, until a recurrence occurs by reactivation of HIV from the "sleeping" reservoir cells that contain HIV retroviral DNA. Upon such recurrence, the same therapy or a modified regimen could bring about a new disease-free period for the patient. This is somewhat akin to what happens with herpesviral infections at present. While current HSV therapies do not eliminate the herpesvirus completely, they provide disease-free periods until next recurrence.
The Company believes that it can rapidly improve its lead HIVCide candidate further, using its proven lead optimization technology. If such improvements can be made, the Company believes that the resulting drug therapy would provide substantial additional benefits.
"An example of the success of our 'lead optimization technology' was the dramatic improvement noted in results obtained with FluCide™ for influenza. Over only a few cycles of optimization the Company has substantially improved effectiveness of its anti-influenza drug candidates," said Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, the CEO of NanoViricides, adding, "We now intend to apply the same optimization techniques to our lead anti-HIV candidate."
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