Nanoviricides Inc., a pioneer in developing anti-viral nanomedicine drugs, has announced that treatment with certain herpecide drug candidates led to complete survival of small animals lethally infected with the aggressive and neurotropic HSV-1 strain H129c, wherein all of the untreated animals died. Those animal studies also reproducibly demonstrated dramatic improvements in clinical symptoms associated with herpes simplex virus infection, as illustrated by a complete absence of zosteriform spreading. Animal studies were performed by TransPharm Preclinical Solutions, a preclinical services company in Jackson, MI, and by the laboratory of Dr. Ken S. Rosenthal at Northeast Ohio Medical University. Dr. Rosenthal is a leading researcher in herpesvirus anti-viral agents and vaccines.

Thereafter, Nanoviricides expanded its HerpeCide™ program into development of topical treatments for (a) herpes labials (HSV-1), (b) genital herpes (HSV-2), (c) shingles (VZV), and (d) herpes keratitis.