PHILADELPHIA, June 3, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma (NYSE MKT:HEB) announced that it has confirmed that one of its advanced stage biological products, Alferon® N, inhibits replication of the MERS virus in vitro. Chien-Te (Kent) Tseng, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, led the Alferon® N MERS-CoV experiments. Calu-3 cells were treated with Alferon® N 24 hours prior to infection with MERS-CoV. At 36 hours, supernatants were collected from cells and the virus titers were thereafter measured. Alferon® N showed significant dose-dependent inhibitory effects, thus suggesting the potential of Alferon® N as a preventative. Laboratory (in vitro) studies of potential antiviral agents are not necessarily predictive of clinical benefits. The Company supplied the Alferon N, but was not directly involved in the conduct of the experimentation. The results were forwarded to Hemispherx at the conclusion of the experiments for its review and formal publication is pending. The ability of Alferon N to inhibit replication of the MERS-CoV was also recently shown by experiments conducted at the National Institutes of Health (http://www.hemispherx.net/content/investor/default.asp?goto=781).
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.
