Benzinga | Nov 11, 2020 06:22AM EST

NanoViricides Says Has Engaged Calvert Labs For Safety Pharmacology Studies Of Its Drug For The Treatment Of COVID-19

SHELTON, CT / ACCESSWIRE / November 11, 2020 / NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE:NNVC) (the "Company") a global leader in the development of highly effective antiviral therapies based on a novel nanomedicines platform, today reported that it has engaged Calvert Labs, a contract research organization ("CRO"), for performing the Safety Pharmacology studies of its clinical drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19.

The Company has been diligently working on advancing its drug candidates for the treatment of COVID-19 towards human clinical trials as rapidly as feasible.

The Company intends to perform certain core safety pharmacology studies to ensure safety of the drug candidates at Calvert Labs. The data from these studies will be used for filing an IND application. Prior to that, the Company also intends to file a pre-IND application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") to obtain guidance.

The recent increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide has led scientists to suggest that this pandemic virus is expected to become a circulating virus. Influenza viruses and common cold viruses are other examples of circulating viruses. However, SARS-CoV-2 is more virulent, and thereby causes substantially greater morbidity and mortality than these other circulating viruses. Therefore, development of an effective drug to treat the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is very important.

A curative treatment for a virus such as SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus would require a multi-faceted attack that shuts down (i) the ability of the virus to infect host cells and simultaneously and (ii) the ability of the virus to multiply inside the host cells. The nanoviricide(r) platform enables direct multi-point attack on the virus that is designed to disable the virus and its ability to infect new cells. At the same time, a nanoviricide is also capable of carrying payload in its "belly" (inside the micelle) that can be chosen to affect the ability of the virus to replicate. The nanoviricide is designed to protect the payload from metabolism in circulation. Thus, the nanoviricide platform provides an important opportunity to develop a curative treatment against SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 spectrum of pathologies.