Investor interest soared after West Coast-based genetics firm NanoViricide Inc. (Pink Sheets: NNVC) announced in a recent press release it is near the final stages of producing a drug that could help fight the H5N1 virus, more commonly known as the Bird Flu. As of this point, the company has finished up its initial tests of the drug in Vietnam, and will be moving on to perform the next round of tests in America. While much of the information discussed in the press release was highly technical, it did point to one thing – that the much-feared Bird Flu could quite possibly become a thing of the past.
“We have shown that our drug candidates are the most effective drugs at present against even the newest subgroup of H5N1 viruses,” NanoViricide CEO Eugene Seymour, MD MPH, said in the release.
Although any explanation of how nanotechnology works at the genetic level is invariably complicated, the work NanoViricides has done can be boiled down into a few basic principles. The drug suppresses the cytopathic effects – degenerative changes in cellular tissue associated with viral multiplication – of the newest strain of avian influenza, Clade 2 H5N1, which was isolated in December 2006 in Vietnam.
Anil R. Diwan, president and chairman of NanoViricides, said the results are important because the tests involved the newest strain of bird flu. Other companies are still working on vaccines and antiviral drugs for older strains, he said.
Despite the complicated processes used to create the drugs, Seymour told Market News First that his company’s method of creating treatments and vaccines is much faster than those of other companies.
“Essentially, all our drugs are comprised of two things … the nanocell and the ligand, which is the targeting molecule,” Seymour said. “It takes us about three weeks to make a new drug because all we need to do is make a new targeting molecule … by taking an antibody, chopping it up, and making a bunch of new candidates, then testing all those candidates in the laboratory. We then take the top two candidates and test them in animals.”
Now that the Vietnam testing phase is finished, NanoViricides will start its trials in the United States within the next 30 days. At this point, Seymour said it’s just a waiting game until the drug characterization, toxicology, and primate studies are done before moving on to the human trials.
According to Seymour, the United States military has shown a lot of interest in NanoViricide’s work – the company recently signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (http://wrair-www.army.mil/) for creating new treatments for dengue fever using NanoViricides’ virus-killing nanomedicine technology. In addition, the company plans on moving off the Pink Sheets and on to the OTC Bulletin Board in the next few days.
Seymour was extremely proud of the progress and quality of work his company had done recently.
“We’re really after the cutting edge of nanomedicine,” Seymour said. “And we’re unique because no one else seems to be going after viruses. Viruses … are the simplest to manipulate. [They have] a rich pipeline, a rapid development process … that’s why the government loves what we’re doing. We have almost 50 patents, and we’re very skilled. Our team has taken 12 drugs to market and we have three blockbusters among them.”
“Our stuff is so hot and so exciting,” Seymour added.
