Canopus BioPharma Selected To Present Its Drug Candidate For HIV/AIDS Treatment At The Global Summit On AIDS And The Church
Los Angeles, IL - Canopus BioPharma, Inc., a biotechnology company developing pharmaceutical products and assay methods for patients suffering from infectious disease, radiation sickness, cancer, and addiction, announced recently that its President Len Rothstein presented at the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, which was held from November 28-30, 2007, in Lake Forest, California, as part of the Treatment Horizons Workshop. Mr. Rothstein's presentation, given on Thursday, November 29, 2007, addressed Canopus BioPharma's novel antiviral HIV drug SpirH, which offers new hope for AIDS patients worldwide.
"The HIV community is very interested in the research being conducted by Canopus BioPharma. SpirH appears to be a promising therapeutic which may offer a potential near term therapy option for people with HIV," said David Miller, Board Member of the AIDS Institute and long time AIDS treatment activist. Miller also presented at the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church.
Canopus BioPharma's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Prendergast commented, "After elucidating the mechanism of action by which molecules, similar to SpirH, act to retard HIV damage to the immune system over ten years ago, we are very excited to have progressed to the point where last month we commenced patient studies. We are encouraged by the international interest and support for undertaking additional clinical studies with SpirH™ and the potential it brings to improving healthcare globally."
The third annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church, hosted by the Saddleback Church of Lake Forest, California, is an effort to unify and mobilize churches around the world working in concert with government and other organizations to defeat the AIDS pandemic. International experts on HIV and AIDS will assemble for the Summit in 2007. Medical experts scheduled to present or participate on panel sessions include Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations; Dr. Harvey Elder, professor of medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine; and Dr. Susan Hillis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Government and political officials include Ambassador Dr. Mark Dybul, United States Global AIDS coordinator; Jay Hein, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; Terri Hasdorff, director for the Center for Faith-Based & Community Initiatives; and democratic presidential candidate and New York senator Hillary Clinton. Now an annual event, Senators Barack Obama and Sam Brownback were past presenters at the Summit because of their work with AIDS and poverty.
Resonating loudly among constituents of the global AIDS/HIV community, last month Canopus BioPharma announced the commencement of a 30 patient Phase II clinical trial for its new HIV-1 anti-viral therapy, SpirH. SpirH is being studied to determine its potential to delay the onset of full-blown AIDS when used as a mono-therapy in early stage infection.
The cellular mechanism of SpirH is based upon the scientific finding, in the late 1990's, that the HIV-1 virus behaves like proteins generated by the human fetus, which sends signals to the mother to lower her immune system and allow successful gestation. In a similar manner the HIV-1 virus sends a signal to the immune system of the infected patient to make his/her body lower their immune response and allow the HIV-1 virus to multiply. SpirH™ intercepts this HIV signaling system and allows the immune system to inhibit the HIV viral spread. Canopus BioPharma's research to date shows that SpirH is effective against all strains of the HIV-1 virus, including strains from Africa, Thailand, Brazil and the United States.
The clinical trial has already received approval from the Medicines Control Council of South Africa, where the initial studies will be undertaken. As a mono-therapy in the very early stages of infection, Canopus BioPharma's South African studies are intended to confirm that SpirH™ will significantly prevent and delay disease progression for HIV+ patients that have not been treated previously. It offers the patient and physician a new therapeutic approach to inhibiting the HIV virus and halting the decline of the immune system, utilizing a drug family with over 30 years of patient administration history.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 33 million people worldwide are infected with the HIV virus. AIDS, the most advanced stage of HIV infection, is the cause of some 20 million deaths since 1981 when HIV/AIDS was first observed. Last year 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
SOURCE: Canopus BioPharma, Inc.