In the paper entitled "Sialidase-Based Anti “Influenza Virus Therapy Protects against Secondary Pneumococcal Infection" mice were challenged with a lethal dose of IFV (H1N1 or H3N2).  Mice were then treated with DAS181 followed by a challenge with pneumococcus, a common cause of secondary pneumonia.  In these IFV-infected mice, treatment with DAS181 inhibited influenza virus, prevented weight loss and prevented bacterial pneumonia, thereby significantly prolonging survival.  It is hypothesized that desialylation by DAS181 protects animals by inhibiting IFV infection and subsequently reducing bacterial colonization.  As well, by limiting the airway epithelial damage caused by IFV infection, DAS181 treatment may protect the epithelium from inflammation and thereby prevent secondary bacterial infection.

"These results are important because of the danger posed by secondary bacterial infection in patients with influenza, including those infected with the H1N1 pandemic virus.  Indeed, CDC showed early on in the H1N1 pandemic that concurrent bacterial infection was seen in 29% of fatal cases, particularly with pneumococcus," commented Dr. Fang Fang, NexBio's President of Research & Development.  "Unique among licensed influenza drugs and those in clinical development, DAS181 uses a Host-Oriented Therapeutic strategy.  We are encouraged by these preclinical findings that suggest that the significant anti-viral activity offered by this approach is also associated with protection from potentially lethal bacterial infection," Dr. Fang added.

SOURCE NexBio, Inc.