SHELTON, Conn., Sept. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE Amer: NNVC) (the "Company"), a global leader in developing nanomedicines to attack pathogenic viruses, announced today that it will be presenting at the MicroCap Investment Conference. The conference is being held on October 1-2, 2018 at the Essex House Hotel in New York City.
Dr. Irach B. Taraporewala, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, will present a corporate overview and discuss the Company's progress in taking its first drug candidate into human clinical trials. The presentation is scheduled for 11:30 AM- 12 noon ET on Monday, October 1, 2018.
The Company has a broad and deep pipeline of drug candidates based on its unique, post-immunotherapeutic "bind-encapsulate-destroy" "nanoviricide®" technology platform, that addresses a market space of $40 Billion to $70 Billion. The Company is currently focused on developing topical skin creams and eye drops in the HerpeCide™ program to treat infections caused by VZV, HSV-1, and HSV-2 herpesviruses, towards regulatory approvals. These drug candidates leverage significant amounts of common technologies, thereby enabling the Company to maximize return on investments (ROI).
The Company has previously reported that its lead anti-VZV drug candidates in the HerpeCide™ program have been found to be highly effective against VZV infection of human skin patch organ culture studies. These candidates were also found to be highly effective in cell culture studies. In addition, these candidates were found to be effective in ameliorating pain sensations in an animal model of abnormal (neuropathic) pain. A characteristic excruciating pain is a debilitating pathology of shingles presentation. Thus a direct pain-reducing effect of the Company's anti-shingles drug candidates would be very important in ameliorating the pathology of shingles, in addition to the already demonstrated significant antiviral effect.
There are currently no approved treatments for shingles, PHN, or chickenpox, representing a commercially valuable unmet medical need. All of these are diseases caused by VZV. A highly effective treatment of shingles that would result in reduction in the duration and severity of PHN cases has been estimated to have a potential market size in the range of billions of dollars, even after the recent introduction of the new Shingrix vaccine. There are approximately 500,000 to 1 Million episodes of shingles hospitalization cases annually in the United States alone. Approximately 18% of patients overall, and as many as 30-50% of older patients with shingles, are estimated to have PHN. This represents more than 200,000 cases of PHN annually in the USA alone. Such VZV complications can cause extended hospitalization in about 4% of shingles patients overall, with an average estimated cost as high as $20,000 per hospitalized patient.
The Company has also found that these candidates were extremely safe in a preliminary rat safety/toxicology study. This has led to a redesign of the IND-enabling Safety/Toxicology study ("Tox Package") to be performed at the "maximum feasible dose" (MFD) level. This is estimated to require multi-kilogram quantities of the drug candidates. The Company has recently started production of the necessary quantities of the drug candidate at our cGMP-capable facility in Shelton, CT. The Company expects to begin "Tox Package" studies once the drug is manufactured in the multi-kg quantities needed and is already in negotiation with a CRO site for the study. The acute dermal safety/tox study is expected to be of a relatively short duration and we anticipate filing an IND once the report is available.
All of our drug candidates are based on broad and exclusive licenses in perpetuity from TheraCour Pharma, Inc. A license for VZV and the remaining herpesviruses is in progress. HSV-1 and HSV-2 are already licensed, as well as many other viruses including all influenzas, HIV, Dengue, Ebola/Marburg, among others. For further details, please refer to our quarterly and annual reports.
Shingles is caused by reactivation of the Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV, aka human herpesvirus-3 or HHV-3). A chickenpox (i.e. varicella) infection in childhood leads to the virus becoming latent in the nervous system. At an older age, or when immunity against this resident latent virus decreases, the virus replicates in the nerve cells, and bursts out of the nerve endings infecting neighboring skin cells, thus causing a typical shingles rash. The nerve injury caused by the virus leads to a characteristic excruciating and debilitating pain. The shingles rash may continue to expand for several days, and then subsides in about three weeks in an uncomplicated case. The VZV-associated neuropathic pain does not resolve quickly, and may continue even after the rash has resolved (hence called PHN), for several months to, in rare cases, years.
About NanoViricides:
NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for viral 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.
SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.
