HONG KONG, July 29 -- Xinhua/PRNewswire/AsiaNet
PRB Pharmaceuticals (PRB) and Lee's Pharmaceuticals (Lee's) announced the
discovery that PRB'S patent pending botanical extract, V38-AMF-1, completely
inhibits bird flu (H5N1) and Fujian Flu (H3N2) infections in vitro. The results
come from the second arm of a multi-center, anti-viral project jointly
sponsored by PRB Pharmaceuticals and Lee's Pharmaceuticals. In the first arm of
the project, researchers led by Dr. John Tam at the Chinese University of Hong
Kong, found V38-AMF-1 to be effective against a variety of pathogens including
SARS CoV, the virus responsible for causing severe acute respiratory syndrome.
"We are extremely excited about this important and timely discovery," says
Dr. Charles Hensley, CO-Chairman and CO-CEO at PRB Pharmaceuticals. "Since bird
flu first emerged, researchers around the world have been searching for a safe
compound that can inhibit the bird flu virus (H5N1). Our method of utilizing
botanical sources for anti-microbial solutions is starting to pay off. It is
really a common sense approach as plants have developed powerful anti-viral
strategies over millions of years of co-evolution with viruses," says Dr.
Hensley. "This year, Asia experienced the largest outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in
history and the recent outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam have raised new
concerns of an impending human influenza pandemic. It is just a matter of time
before a variant capable of causing human to human transmission emerges and is
likely to be a result of co-infection and gene swapping between H5N1 and the
human influenza strain H3N2. It's really a disaster waiting to happen."
"The first line of defense against a human influenza pandemic involving
bird flu is to keep the avian stocks healthy," commented Hensley. "To address
this objective, we developed Flustat, a V38-AMF-1 based agricultural product to
prevent and treat bird flu infections in chickens. Flustat comes as a powder
that is added to drinking water of the chickens. We have already demonstrated
that Flustat protects chicken embryos from H5N1 infection. We will begin
testing Flustat on poultry stocks in the fall of 2004 with the goal of
supplying poultry farms by the first quarter of 2005."
V38-AMF-1 is the primary active ingredient of PRB'S over-the-counter
influenza medication, Vira 38. Vira 38 was launched into the Hong Kong market
by Lee's Pharmaceuticals last winter and is currently selling over-the-
counter. "Vira 38 has already shown to be a very effective treatment for
influenza illness in humans and we are optimistic that Vira 38 will be an
effective medication for the prevention and treatment of bird flu," says Dr.
Benjamin Li, CEO of Lee's Pharmaceuticals. "A large scale influenza human
clinical trial is underway at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong and we
are planning to stockpile Vira 38 for the upcoming flu season and in the event
bird flu returns to Hong Kong."
Dr. Hensley noted that neither company would provide more specific
scientific details on this study until a scientific manuscript had been
published in a peer-reviewed journal.
PRB Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (http://www.prbpharmaceuticals.com) is based in
Irvine, California. PRB is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company that
develops, manufactures and globally markets innovative preventive and treatment
therapies for life threatening diseases caused by emerging viruses.
Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd (http://www.leespharm.com)(Hong Kong
Exchange GEM Stock: 8221) is an integrated research-driven and market-oriented
pharmaceutical company engaged in the development, manufacture and sales of
quality biopharmaceutical products that focus on combating cardiovascular and
viral diseases.
CONTACT:
Ms. Vivian Fung of Lee's Pharmaceuticals
Tel: +852-2314-1282
Fax: +852-2314-1708
[email protected]
SOURCE: PRB Pharmaceuticals; Lee's Pharmaceuticals
--Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--
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