Dr Miles Carroll, CSO commented on the collaboration: “NIAID has considerable experience and expertise in the testing of compounds for activity against a number of key pathogens, both those identified as potential bioterrorism agents as well as major infectious disease pathogens that today are without effective treatments. This collaboration has yielded significant and selective antiviral activity and we are confident that additional positive data will be generated against other viruses that are still to be tested. MNLpharma imino sugar compounds have also been shown to have antiviral effects in a number of in vitro assays (e.g. HCV surrogate, Influenza, and HIV) conducted in the UK. These findings reiterate the fact that imino sugars have the potential to be developed into novel, effective, anti-microbial treatments that will be of benefit across the globe. We are looking forward to continuing to work with NIAID to achieve this objective.”

MNLpharma has major discovery programmes in the areas of immunomodulation and direct acting antivirals with a number of compounds showing promise against several key viral pathogens where effective treatments are currently lacking. The company’s lead project is an anticancer immunomodulator, which is also expected to be an effective therapeutic in a range of viral diseases. “Whilst our research in recent years has been concentrated on the novel immunopotentiation properties of imino sugars, the advancement of our lead programmes towards studies in man means that we can now accelerate our preclinical programme in the field of antivirals. We are confident that MNLpharma imino sugars, possibly supported by other novel compounds that we have within our libraries, will be the source of a new generation of potent, yet well tolerated antiviral therapies. Collaborations with Centres of Excellence such as this one with NIAID are fundamental to MNLpharma’s selection and pursuit of high quality hits and leads” commented Dr Carroll. “Expertise such as that seen at NIH is impossible to replicate in a company of our size and we appreciate the wealth of experience  that collaborators of this stature bring to MNLpharma”.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:

David Gee, Commercial Director, MNLpharma