WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT -- Tuesday, November 18, 2014 -- NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE MKT: NNVC) (the "Company") a nanomedicine company developing anti-viral drugs, reported that its CEO, Eugene Seymour, MD, MPH, has been invited to discuss the current Ebola outbreak and the Company's progress on a novel experimental Ebola drug on "The Independents", a show on the Fox Business News Channel (FBN) at 9PM EDT tonight, November 18th.
He will discuss some of the difficulties that could be encountered in attempts to bring the Ebola epidemic under control. Dr. Seymour has extensive field experience in the area of infectious diseases. He has previously worked on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Dr. Seymour was interviewed on FBN regarding the Ebola crisis earlier on September 16th, and October 7th, 2014.
The Company has signed a "Cooperative Research and Development Agreement- Materials Transfer Agreement" (CRADA-MTA) with US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), as previously reported. This agreement will enable evaluation of our drug candidates at USAMRIID in a BSL-4 facility for biological effectiveness and safety against the Ebola virus.
NanoViricides, Inc. now has the capability of producing sufficient quantities of an anti-Ebola drug, after it is developed, for combating current and future Ebola epidemics. The highly customizable nanomedicine cGMP capable pilot scale manufacturing facility in Shelton, CT, will be able to supply all of the nanoviricides drug candidates in quantities needed for human clinical trials.
The Company has recently developed and is synthesizing novel nanoviricide drug candidates against Ebola that it believes could lead to a successful therapeutic. These drug candidates are designed to mimic the host cell receptor onto which the Ebola virus binds to cause an infection. The site at which the virus binds does not change, in spite of all the mutations a virus undergoes. Thus the Company believes that its drug candidates would continue to work in spite of field mutations in the virus. This is unlike vaccines, antibodies, siRNA, antisense, and several other therapeutic modes which a virus can readily overcome due to mutations it acquires in the field. The current outbreak in Africa has unequivocally demonstrated the need for such an effective, broad-spectrum, anti-Ebola therapeutic.
More than 14,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola since March, according to the World Health Organization WHO), making this the biggest outbreak on record. More than 5,000 people have died, up to November 11, 2014 (http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/situation-reports/en/). The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) stands at 70%. The organization has declared that outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were over. Sporadic cases have also occurred in other countries including Spain and the United States, related to Ebola-infected personnel brought into those countries, and infections into local health-care workers. However, no major outbreaks have occurred outside of West Africa.
Currently, there are no approved drugs or vaccines against Ebola, although some vaccines as well as some drug candidates have entered clinical trials. Recently, WHO has announced a policy for use of experimental drugs against Ebola to expedite drug availability.
About NanoViricidesFDA refers to US Food and Drug Administration. EMA refers to the European Union’s office of European Medical Agency.