AMSTERDAM, and RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Chimerix, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, announced that data supportive of the company's lead Phase 2 antiviral compound CMX001 were presented today during a late-breaker session by Hans H. Hirsch, MD, MSc, Professor of Clinical Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Basel, Switzerland, at the Antiviral Congress 2010 being held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Data from in vitro studies demonstrated that CMX001 selectively inhibited the replication of human polyomavirus JC (JCV), the cause of potentially fatal progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in immunocompromised or immunosuppressed patients.
"JC virus data being presented by Dr. Hirsch provide further evidence that CMX001 is broadly active against double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses," commented Wendy M. Painter, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer. "With cases of PML on the rise due to increased use of immunosuppressive drugs to address autoimmune diseases, we are particularly pleased by the noteworthy in vitro activity observed against JC virus. These data reinforce clinical experience from investigator-held Emergency-INDs (EINDs) among immunocompromised patients and suggest another potential application for CMX001."
A double-stranded DNA virus, JCV infects about two-thirds of the world's population without producing clinically obvious signs or symptoms, but can be life-threatening in patients who are immunosuppressed, either associated with transplantation and immunosuppressive drugs or due to infections such as HIV. A research team led by Dr. Hirsch investigated the effect of CMX001 on JCV replication using human glia-derived cells and COS-7 cells infected with JCV. As Dr. Hirsch explained, extracellular JCV was reduced by 50 percent by CMX001 at an effective concentration (EC-50) of 5.5
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