SHELTON, CT / ACCESSWIRE / May 4, 2020 /?NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE American:NNVC) (the "Company") a leader in the development of highly effective antiviral therapies based on a novel nanomedicines platform, announced that it has signed a Confidential Disclosure Agreement ("CDA") with a leading pharmaceutical company in the Asian region to explore collaborating on the Company's COVID-19 program.

NanoViricides previously disclosed that it has already identified certain drug candidates that are active against multiple coronaviruses in cell culture studies. The Company intends to perform testing against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 disease) and is in advanced discussions with at least two sites that have such capability. This testing is expected to enable the Company to declare a clinical drug candidate for COVID-19 based on viral load reduction.

The pharmaceutical company with whom the CDA was executed has experience in drug development of novel technology platform-based drug candidates. It has both marketing and R&D presence in multiple countries within the Asian region. In addition, the pharmaceutical company has several collaborative drug development programs, both in-licensed from smaller biopharma companies and out-licensed to global Big Pharma companies, in a range of disease indications.

NanoViricides is developing what currently may be one of the very few novel antiviral drug candidates specifically targeting the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, with broad-spectrum activity against other coronaviruses. The Company believes the broad-spectrum activity of its drug candidates substantiates that the drugs may continue to work even as the virus mutates in the field. Such viral mutations are already demonstrated with SARS-CoV-2 and it is widely thought that vaccines and antibodies could be rendered ineffective in the next iteration of the virus's outbreak due to such mutations.

NanoViricides' approach goes beyond antibodies. An antibody binds the virus at only two points of attack, and tens of antibodies would be needed to disable a single virus. In contrast, the Company's nanoviricides bind with copious numbers of binding points, all designed to occlude the receptor-binding-domain of the S-protein of the coronavirus, thus disabling the virus's ability to infect human cells. In addition, the attack of a nanoviricide micelle on the virus particle is expected to result in encapsulation of the virus particle, with potential uprooting of the S-protein tail from the virus lipid membrane, thereby neutralizing the virus particle. NanoViricides has previously demonstrated that such effects, driven by the well-known biophysical mechanism of lipid-lipid-fusion, can occur with at least some viruses.

Thus, in the current pandemic scenario, the Company believes its drug development is a highly promising approach. At the same time, as a novel drug candidate, it is necessary to execute on an accelerated path for human applications without compromising safety. The NanoViricides platform has been shown to be safe as injectable in preliminary, non-GLP animal studies directed at other diseases. The Company intends to perform similar animal studies for the clinical SARS-CoV-2 nanoviricide drug candidate for developing information for entering into first-in-human studies under the US FDA or other regulatory agencies.

The CDA allows the two companies to discuss publicly undisclosed information about NanoViricides' drug development against SARS-CoV-2 to treat COVID-19 that is currently a worldwide pandemic. Further discussions may lead to additional collaborative development agreements. As with any such exploratory discussions, there is no guarantee of such additional agreements at this time.

"We are pleased with the global interest in our drug development programs," said Anil R. Diwan, PhD, President and Executive Chairman of the Company, adding, "We believe a collaboration with a leading pharmaceutical company with expertise in rapid drug development of novel technologies would help us accelerate the time to human clinical trials for our SARS-CoV-2 drug candidate in development."

Even in late stages of the COVID-19 disease, the viral load in the patient remains high, unlike in the case of some other viral diseases such as influenza. Thus, a nanoviricide drug that is designed to directly attack the virus and destroy it, thereby minimizing the viral load, is expected to have high effectiveness in controlling the disease and enabling recovery of the patient.