SHELTON, Conn., March 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides,
Inc. (NYSE MKT: NNVC (the "Company") announced today that its CEO,
Dr. Eugene Seymour, was interviewed
by Jane King of Small Cap Nation
("SCN"). SCN has published a video clip of this interview on
March 1, 2016 on YouTube
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xc9nBGv4U4).
Dr. Seymour discussed the Company's current status and
achievements. While the Company currently has approximately a dozen
drug development programs in its research and development pipeline,
it is still preclinical at present. NanoViricides is currently
focused on developing a drug for the herpes infection of the eye,
i.e. herpes keratitis, which can lead to blindness and the need for
corneal transplants. NanoViricides has established collaborations
with the University of Wisconsin at
Madison, the University of
Pittsburgh, and Baylor
University to perform pre-clinical cell culture testing as
well as animal studies of our eye drug candidates. Dr. Seymour
suggested that if all things go well then the ocular herpes
keratitis drug could go into human clinical trials sometime next
year. The Company's expectations may differ significantly from
actual results, because of several factors that may be outside of
its control.
NanoViricides, Inc. has developed a platform technology that
enables direct attack on the virus particle in circulation inside
the body, thereby making it unable to infect human cells, and thus
blocking progression of the viral disease. This platform technology
enables the Company to rapidly develop viable drug candidates
against a different virus in a relatively short period of time,
which could be as little as a few months. A "nanoviricide®" is made
up of two parts: a polymer that self-assembles into a "nanomicelle"
that has the ability to attack and possibly dismantle the virus:
and a ligand that enables zip-code-address-like targeting of the
nanomicelle onto the virus surface. Developing new drug candidates
against a new virus primarily involves designing and synthesizing
ligands capable of binding to the virus surface. The Company can
develop such ligands based on known or putative interactions of the
virus with the cell surface to which the virus binds. With the
Company's experience in this field and a library of proprietary
small chemicals in hand, the Company believes that the design of
novel ligands for initial cell culture studies can take as little
as a couple of months. Synthesis of the corresponding nanoviricides
thereafter usually takes a few additional months, depending upon
the complexity of the project. In many cases, initial testing has
led to strong candidates that could be developed for clinical
application if there are no other drugs available. However,
additional refining of the initial drug candidates may be required
and that can substantially extend the development period.
Dr. Seymour also discussed the Company's state of the art
pilot-scale manufacturing facility that is designed to enable
production and supply of any of its drug candidates for human
clinical trials and for preclinical studies. In addition, this
facility also has sufficient production capacity to enable entry
into the market should one of the Company's drugs receive FDA
licensure.
In the context of the recent Zika virus epidemic, Dr. Seymour
noted that the Company believes its Dengue drug development
provides a good starting point for developing a Zika virus drug, if
the Company decides to engage in such development. This is because
the Zika virus belongs to the same family of viruses called
Flaviviruses, which the Dengue viruses also belong to, and
therefore share significant similarities. If our anti-dengue drug
candidate is sufficiently broad in its spectrum, then it could
potentially attack Zika virus as well. However, there are
significant differences in the pathology of Zika and Dengue
viruses. Zika viruses are neurotropic. Thus the cellular
receptor(s) for Zika virus could be different from those for Dengue
viruses.
Dr. Seymour alluded to the complexities of the normal drug
development program. Additional optimization of the ligands and
polymers, safety/toxicology studies, additional effectiveness
studies in different animal model protocols, and other pre-clinical
studies, need to be performed prior to selection of a drug
candidate for further clinical development under regulatory
processes.
Dr. Seymour also referenced the Company's several collaborations
for each of its drug development programs that enable pre-clinical
testing of its drug candidates.. At the present time, the Company
does not have any collaborations or other agreements with a
pharmaceutical partner nor can there be any assurance that such a
collaboration will ever be developed.
Dr. Seymour also advised that the Company is well financed and
the cash on hand is expected to be sufficient to bring at least its
first drug candidate into human clinical trials. This expectation
is based on the Company's internal projections and informal
estimates it has obtained from several collaborators and contract
research organizations for the potential costs of intended studies.
The Company has limited experience in clinical drug development and
its actual drug development costs may differ from the estimated
costs due to several factors that may be outside its control.
About NanoViricides:
NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development
stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for
antiviral therapy. The Company's novel nanoviricide® class of drug
candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus
particles and to dismantle them. The Company is developing drugs
against a number of viral diseases including H1N1 swine flu, H5N1
bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, oral and genital Herpes, viral
diseases of the eye including EKC and herpes keratitis, Hepatitis
C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus, among others.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events.
Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those
projected herein and depend on a number of factors. Certain
statements in this release, and other written or oral statements
made by NanoViricides, Inc. are "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which
could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no
obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking
statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from the company's expectations
include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed
under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed
by the company from time to time with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.
Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such
factors, they may include the following: demonstration and proof of
principle in pre-clinical trials that a nanoviricide is safe and
effective; successful development of our product candidates; our
ability to seek and obtain regulatory approvals, including with
respect to the indications we are seeking; the successful
commercialization of our product candidates; and market acceptance
of our products.
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SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.