For influenza, current drugs on the market such as Tamiflu suppress the virus but don’t eliminate it. NanoViricide is developing FluCide – amongst a number of antiviral pipeline drugs - which uses its proprietary (and namesake) technology to destroy viruses completely.
Nanoviricides’ CEO, Dr. Eugene Seymour, told this publication the drug consists of a short peptide “that sits on its surface to attract the virus” and a nanomicelle made of biodegradable polymers which, once the virus is attached, “opens up and encapsulates the virus, destroying it.”
He continued, adding: “This a unique technology and this far, we have gotten patents in 25 countries with 100 expected by the end of the year.”
Though he told us “every single large pharma has expressed an interest” in the technology, the company’s pipeline is still undergoing preclinical tests in animal models. “They all want to wait until we're in humans next year before proposing a licensing deal.”
FluCide and Dengue fever targeting drug DengueCide, are scheduled to be the first of the firms nine pipeline products to begin human clinical trials and the firm is preparing for such with the building of a manufacturing suite.
The company is also developing drugs for External Eye Viral Diseases, HIV/AIDS, genital herpes, rabies, and Ebola/Marburg using the same drug delivery technology, sharing the same nanomicelle with a different peptide to attract the virus in the body.
To support upcoming trials, construction began this month on an 18,000 sq ft facility with completion expected by the end of the year. The plant was previously a printing plant and, according to Seymour, “needed a complete renovation to make it a sterile pilot manufacturing facility.”