NanoViricides, Inc. Reports Discovery Of Broad-Spectrum Virus-Binding Ligands; Expected To Counter COVID-19
The Company has been working on a drug candidate to
address the COVID-19 and has made significant progress in this regard
NEW YORK, NY - (NewMediaWire) - March 5, 2020 - NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE American: NNVC)
(the "Company") is a nano-biopharmaceutical Company at the
development stage, with proprietary and patented drug development work focused
on viral diseases. The Company has recently been in the news for being one of
the few biotechnology companies that is actively working on developing a drug
that can treat COVID-19, the coronaviral pneumonia disease which is caused by
the SARS-CoV-2 virus, aka, 2019-nCoV, also known as the Wuhan coronavirus. After
originating in Wuhan, within the Hubei province in China, COVID-19 has affected
more than 90,000 people across the globe, in more than 60 countries, including
11 deaths in the United States and disease occurrence in both West Coast and
East Coast states. The extremely stringent quarantine measures implemented by
China, with similar measures adopted in other affected areas, has resulted in
global financial markets losing hundreds of billions of dollars in value. Long
term school closings are already occurring in Japan, South Korea, and now in
the USA as well.
Read
our full coverage at: https://smallcapsdaily.com/nanoviricides-to-produce-broad-spectrum-
antiviral-clinical-trial-candidates-for-covid-19/
The
COVID-19 virus belongs to the same family of viruses that cause the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome
(MERS) diseases. NanoViricides’ CEO Dr. Anil Diwan has prior experience working
on research associated with MERS which is why the Company could initiate its
drug development process rapidly. The management believes that with
governmental support, as well as support from international agencies, they have
the capability to release a drug in the near future. NanoViricides’ research
team claims to have found broad-spectrum virus-binding ligands that are
expected to attack the coronavirus at the same points that the virus uses to
bind to its cognate cellular receptor, namely ACE-2 (angiotensin converting
enzyme type 2), using molecular modeling based on known SARS-CoV and ACE2
interactions. The management intends to perform initial testing of these drug
candidates for safety and effectiveness in cell culture studies in its own
BSL-2 virology laboratory at its Shelton campus, using low-threat coronavirus
strains that have been normally circulating in human population. This is a
major development in terms of the rollout of any COVID-19 drug.
Other
drug development efforts to combat COVID-19 include new discovery of
antibodies, by companies including Regeneron, and the existing nucloside analog
drug remedesivir by Gliead. While remdesivir is now in three clinical trials,
two in China, and one in the USA, it has a checkered past. Despite having shown
effectiveness in animal models of Ebola virus, it failed in a clinical trial
for this disease conducted by the NIH and international agencies. Also, its
protocol involves 10 days of 1-hour infusions daily, which leaves a lot to be
desired. Antibody development against a virus takes several years of discovery
and development efforts, because of the cycle of creating and screening the
antibodies in mice, then taking the effective ones and converting them into
humanized antibodies, then further modifying them, usually by PEGylation, so
that they can be used for infusions in patients. Also viruses readily mutate
and escape antibody drugs as well as vaccines. In light of this, the
NanoViricides platform technology appears to have superior features, and may be
the only game in town in the near future.
If
the NanoViricides drug testing is successful, they can make kilogram quantities
in just a few weeks. That would be sufficient to treat several hundreds to a
few thousands of patients, from just a single production batch. They already
have cGMP-capable production capability for this. Also, one of their drug
candidates on this platform technology has already gone through full blown
safety/toxicology studies and is in IND preparaion stage. Thus their drug
candidate can be moved to human clinical trials and exploratory usage by
regulatory authorities provided that there is the will to do so. The economic
and human impact of the virus is now providing the political will for combating
this virus, as seen from the recent $8.3 billion coronavirus related funding
approved by the US Congress, and more than $10 billion committed by the Chinese
government.
Dr.
Anil Diwan, CEO, who is actively working on a drug to counter COVID-19,
provided the following statement: "It is well recognized that development
of vaccines takes a long time, and that vaccines can often be ineffective
against viruses due to viral mutations that lead to emergence of resistant
strains." The management is working on developing necessary collaborations
in China to take the program further assuming that an effective drug candidate
is identified soon and they intend to solicit interest and financing from government
agencies in order to accelerate the Company’s work on the coronaviruses and
novel pathogens.
Before
its work on COVID-19 became public, NanoViricides was in the news for its
research on three HerpeCide™ drug development programs: dermal topical treatments
for Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1), Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV-2)
and Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) which causes chickenpox and shingles. Its core
drug candidate is NV-HHV-101, a skin cream for topical treatment of shingles
rash caused by VZV which has already completed its GLP studies and is at the
IND application phase before heading to Phase 1 of human trials. It is worth
noting that there are between 500,000 to 1 million cases of shingles each year
in the US alone and the only serious drug active in this space is preventive
medication like the Shingrix vaccine. The Company’s topical cream has a large
addressable market across the globe and its management recently raised
sufficient research for 2020. With its multi-kilogram-scale c-GMP capable
manufacturing facility in Shelton, Connecticut, the Company appears well-positioned
to move forward to the next level in its research for both, COVID-19 as well as
HerpeCide™.
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