NanoViricides says antiviral activity spectrum of NV-387 includes Influenza A

NanoViricide said that the ultra-broad antiviral activity spectrum of NV-387 includes Influenza A viruses, possibly including Bird Flu H5N1 virus as well. NanoViricides reports that in a lethal animal model of lung infection by Influenza A /H3N2 virus, NV-387 was found to have substantially superior antiviral effects compared to three approved anti-influenza drugs. The company recently performed a lethal lung infection study of mice infected with Influenza A/H3N2 that were treated with NV-387 or one of the three approved drugs for direct comparison: Oseltamivir, Peramivir and Baloxivir. In this study, NV-387 Oral treatment led to a survival lifespan of 15 days, compared to 10 days with Oseltamivir Oral treatment, 11 days with Peramivir I.V. treatment, and 11 days with Baloxivir Oral treatment, while the vehicle-treated and untreated animals survived only 8 days. Thus the anti-Influenza activity of NV-387 given orally was substantially superior to all three of the approved anti-influenza drugs, namely Tamiflu, Rapivab, and Xofluza. Given the broad-spectrum of antiviral activity of NV-387 against viruses in many different virus families, the company believes that its effectiveness against Influenza A/H3N2 is indicative of potential antiviral activity against most if not all Influenza A viruses. In particular, the company believes, based on structural information, that the H5 hemagglutinin of H5N1 bird flu virus may be even more susceptible to NV-387 attack than the H3 hemagglutinin of the H3N2 virus. This is because H5 contains a long polybasic site sequence, which has biochemical affinity from electrostatic interactions with the antiviral ligand used in NV-387. This antiviral ligand is a sulfated proteoglycan mimetic. Thus it is very likely that NV-387 may have strong antiviral activity against the bird flu H5N1 virus, although further work is needed in this regard.