Nuvo has been quietly working on this ......
WF10
WF10 is a drug that targets the macrophage, a type of white blood cell essential to regulating the immune response.
WF10 and HIV
The Company has initially pursued WF10 development for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is a frequently mutating retrovirus that attacks the human immune system and has been shown to cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Conventional Treatment
Standard HIV therapy involves a combination of reverse transcriptase, protease and fusion inhibitors to prevent the replication of the virus and this has reduced the impact of infection from almost certain death to a chronic illness. But antiviral cocktails can also provoke frequent, serious side effects including blood and liver abnormalities, rashes, diarrhea, diabetes and abnormal fat deposits, as well as drug interactions.
HIV's ability to mutate into drug-resistant strains has repeatedly frustrated the search for continuously effective treatment regimes.
Nuvo's Approach
Correcting immune deficiency is one key to prolonging life for people infected with HIV and WF10 has undergone extensive research and development in this area. Clinical studies in late-stage AIDS patients have demonstrated WF10's ability to significantly improve clinical outcome, evidenced by fewer opportunistic infections, fewer hospitalizations, and increased survival rates, while provoking only negligible side effects.
Other Applications
WF10 appears to protect normal tissue from the side effects of radiation therapy, and to improve tumour responsivness to radiation. The Company expects to pursue full clinical development of WF10 as an adjunct to radiation and chemotherapy. WF10 is currently approved in Thailand as a treatment for postradiation cystitis.
A diluted form of tetrachlorodecaoxygen (TCDO) - the active ingredient in WF10 - is marketed in Europe under several trade names, including Oxoferin, as a topical wound-healing agent. By activating macrophages, TCDO stimulates the proliferation of fibroblasts - cells that manufacture connective tissue. New connective tissue matrix leads to contraction, closure, increased tensile strength of the wound site and faster healing.
