The recent animal study of FluCide was conducted using the same total lethality protocol employed in previous influenza studies by the Company. The new version of FluCide drug candidate extended the lifespan of lethally infected mice to 334?±11 hrs (or 14 days) on average. In contrast, mice treated with an extended oseltamivir protocol survived for 193?±3 hrs (or 8 days) on average. Control infected mice survived for only 121?±2 hrs (or 5 days). FluCide was given as an IV injection, on alternate days, for five treatments. Oseltamivir was given as oral, twice daily, each at 20mg/kg through life (or 14 treatments). Previously, oseltamivir given using the customary protocol of oral, twice daily, each at 20mg/kg for 4 days (8 treatments), has produced a survival time of 151?±1 hrs (or 6.3 days) in this model. Several additional parameters have been evaluated in this study. The Company expects to analyze the data from these additional parameters as they are received in the near future.
The Company believes that the lifetime data demonstrate an unquestionable superiority of the FluCide drug candidate compared to current drugs, and establish it as a viable therapy against influenza. We believe that FluCide is likely the most effective drug candidate in development against influenza, based on these results.
The studies were conducted by Dr. Krishna Menon, PhD, VMD, MRCS, at KARD Scientific, MA. One million virus particles of Influenza A Strain A/WS/33 (H1N1) were aspirated directly into the lungs of mice. A repeat booster infection was performed at 22 hrs. This is a highly lethal model, allowing the survival lifetimes to be directly used for rank ordering of efficacy of drug candidates.
The Company has previously shown that a previous version of the FluCide drug candidate was highly effective against two different clades of the H5N1 bird flu virus, in addition to being highly effective against H1N1 in the mouse model. The Company has recently improved the FluCide drug candidate, creating what it believes to be a single drug candidate against all forms of influenza. The Company believes that the data we presented at the Influenza Conference establish this pan-influenza drug candidate as a leading anti-influenza drug in development.
SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.