Aphios
Corporation awarded National Institutes of Health Grant
for Development of Novel Anti-Influenza Drugs
January
07, 2003
— Aphios
Corporation has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative
Research (SBIR) grant for “Development of Novel Anti-Influenza
Agents,” from the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health
(NIH).
Influenza,
considered a Category C Priority Pathogen (emerging infectious
disease threat) in the NIAID Biodefense Research Program,
is a common and serious respiratory illness that contributes
to the reduction of the quality of life and a significant
loss of manpower hours each year. The most devastating aspect
of influenza is that it causes substantial mortality among
the elderly and persons who have underlying chronic health
problems (20,000 – 40,000 deaths per year in the United
States).
Annual
vaccination is effective against the flu, but public participation
is far from complete, even among high-risk individuals.
The influenza strains used in the flu vaccine are selected
from strains that are prevalent during the previous flu
season; emerging strains not present in the vaccine will
be able to infect vaccinated individuals. In addition, several
manufacturing problems have led to a shortage of vaccine
early during the flu season. Antiviral therapy is an important
adjunct to the vaccine; currently, only four anti-influenza
drugs are on the market in the United States. The need exists,
therefore, for additional anti-influenza drugs.
Aphios
plans to develop novel anti-influenza drugs through the
screening of its library of unique marine molecule fractions
for activity against influenza A and influenza B. Taking
advantage of the diverse marine environment, Aphios has
established a unique library of marine microorganisms from
hydrothermal vents, deep sea and near shore locations, halophilic
ponds and mangrove swamps, as well as from sponges, corals,
and other invertebrates that are known to produce bioactive
compounds.
The
diversity of Aphios’ marine molecule library has been
further enhanced by utilizing its patented SuperFluids™ processes, for first the
cellular disruption and, secondly, the polarity-guided fractionation
of cultured marine microorganisms. SuperFluids™ are near-critical, critical
or supercritical fluids with or without polar cosolvents
such as alcohols. When compressed, these fluids can be designed
to exhibit enhanced thermodynamic properties of penetration,
selection and expansion. In a direct, large-scale and broad
comparison with conventional organic phase extraction techniques
used in the pharmaceutical industry, we have demonstrated
that the SuperFluids™ processes increase the recovery
and diversity of secondary metabolites, reduce interference
from nuisance compounds, and minimize the background noise
in sensitive enzymatic and molecular-based screens.
Research
leading to the development of these technologies was partially
funded by SBIR grants from the National Science Foundation,
and an Advance Technology Program (ATP) Cooperative Agreement
award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce.
Aphios
(www.aphios.com) is
a biopharmaceutical company that is developing enhanced
natural therapeutics for health maintenance and the treatment
of human diseases with a focus on infectious diseases, cancer
and quality-of-life medicines. Aphios’ product pipeline
includes therapeutics from medicinal plants and marine organisms,
and improved drug delivery formulations of small anticancer
molecules and large protein macromolecules that are crucial
to the functioning of the human genome.
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