NanoViricides (NYSE-A:NNVC), the US clinical-stage drugmaker, has said its lead drug candidate NV-387 could be effective against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus that has prompted the World Health Organisation to declare a global health emergency.
The WHO designated the outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May, after the virus killed at least 88 people across 336 suspected cases, with two infections also confirmed in neighbouring Uganda.
The outbreak was formally declared on 15 May, though the first case is thought to have occurred in April, with a delay in reporting caused by infections spreading across multiple remote locations with limited health infrastructure.
The WHO has warned that the true scale could be significantly larger, with many cases potentially going unreported or undiagnosed.
There is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, with existing therapies developed specifically for the Zaire strain only, leaving other strains, including Sudan and Marburg, without targeted treatments.
NanoViricides said NV-387 works by mimicking a feature on cell surfaces called sulfated proteoglycans, which all filoviruses, the family that includes Ebola and Marburg, use to attach to human cells.
Because the drug targets this universal attachment mechanism rather than specific viral proteins, the company argues it should be effective regardless of how much the virus mutates, unlike antibody-based treatments and vaccines, which can be rendered ineffective by new variants.
The company also highlighted practical advantages for deployment in remote settings, noting that NV-387 is an oral medication stable at room temperature and delivered as a dissolvable gummy, removing the need for cold chain storage and intravenous infusion equipment that are often unavailable in affected regions.
NanoViricides said it is currently working to advance NV-387 into phase two human clinical trials, though it cautioned it cannot project an exact timeline for regulatory filings due to dependence on external collaborators.
Some US citizens in the DRC have been affected by the outbreak, with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working to extract and isolate those exposed.