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AV-HALTs: A new class of disease modifying antiviral/immune protective agents pioneered by ViroStatics designed to not only reduce viral replication, but also to decrease the abnormally elevated inflammation and cellular proliferation that drive disease progression.
 
   

Our Company Motto, Partnering with the Immune System to Prolong Human Health, reflects the focus of ViroStatics – the discovery and development of novel therapeutics in the fields of chronic, life-threatening infections that both improve immune function and suppress pathogen replication.

The Company's lead candidates are novel antiviral/immune protective compounds for the treatment of viral infections and chronic diseases. ViroStatics has developed an innovative core platform to achieve its goal: a new drug class now known as AntiViral-HyperActivation Limiting Therapeutics.

While the initial work in pioneering the new AV-HALT class has focused upon HIV, the mechanism of action of these drugs is through the targeting of human intracellular enzymes needed by many viruses to successfully infect the cell.  ViroStatics scientists are actively screening our candidate AV-HALT compounds against a panel of additional viruses that also cause immune system hyperactivation and systemic infection.

ViroStatics was founded in 2005 by the Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy, USA (RIGHT) and Società Finanziaria Regione Sardegna, Italy (SFIRS). The Company has its registered office in Sassari, headquarters and laboratories in Alghero, Sardinia, Italy and operational offices in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

AV-HALTs
AntiViral-Hyperactivation Limiting Therapeutics
First-Generation AV-HALT:
Second-Generation AV-HALTs:
VS411 - a two-drug combination AV-HALT designed to establish the Proof of Concept for the new class.
Novel compounds that combine both the antiviral and hyperactivation limiting characteristics of the AV-HALT class in a single molecule.
A new class of antiviral/immune protective agents introduced by ViroStatics designed
to not only reduce viral replication, but also to decrease the abnormally elevated inflammation and cellular proliferation that drive disease progression

The Medical Need: A key immune response is the activation of T cells to destroy viruses and other pathogens. If the pathogen is not cleared (ie, chronic infections), persistent immune system hyperactivation results, leading to prolonged excessive T cell hyperproliferation and systemic inflammation. Left unchecked, immune system hyperactivation/inflammation can cause more harm than the initial infection, leading to strokes, heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases of accelerated aging.  Even when current therapies can lower circulating virus to undetectable levels – as can be done in the treatment of HIV – immune system hyperactivation continues, resulting in an increase in diseases normally attributed to aging.

The ViroStatics AV-HALTs: Simultaneous suppression of viral replication, immune cell hyperproliferation and immune hyperactivation by the ViroStatics AV-HALTs uniquely targets the systemic inflammation that drives morbidity and mortality in viral and other chronic diseases. Through their novel dual mechanisms of action, our AV-HALTs are expected to lessen or prevent cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, tumors and accelerated aging (a disease-modifying approach).  As the first-mover in this new field, ViroStatics has advanced the AV-HALT concept from our founder’s work at the US NIH to human Proof of Concept in the challenging HIV/AIDS therapeutic area.
 
Today, ViroStatics is focused exclusively on the development of second-generation, single-molecule AV-HALTs. The Company has several product candidates moving from discovery to development displaying pronounced dual antiviral and anti-inflammatory characteristics in a single molecule. As such, they have the potential to effectively protect the immune system from chronic hyperactivation while also reducing viral replication.

From our beginnings as a company working primarily in the HIV/AIDS space, ViroStatics has now begun to apply our learnings to other viruses, chronic infections and inflammatory diseases.
   

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