Melbourne, Australia; 4 December 2008: Starpharma Holdings Ltd (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) today announced new data showing that SPL7013, the active ingredient in its topical microbicide VivaGel®, inhibits all four strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) targeted by the two marketed cervical cancer vaccines.
These pre-clinical results extend those of a previous study showing that SPL7013 was active against two of the four strains targeted by the vaccines. SPL7013 has now been shown to have in vitro activity against HPV-16 and -18, which account for approximately 70% of cervical cancers; and HPV-6 and -11, which together account for approximately 90% of the incidence of genital warts.
In addition, the latest results demonstrate SPL7013 to be active against HPV-31. Previously SPL7013 has been demonstrated to be active against HPV-45. These two strains have been implicated in more than 4% of cervical cancers but neither is included in the existing vaccines.
Starpharma CEO, Dr Jackie Fairley said: “The new data support our earlier findings that VivaGel® may have potential for reducing the risk of genital HPV infection, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.”
“Showing that VivaGel® has activity against all major clinically relevant strains of HPV tested so far, in particular those strains not covered by the current cervical cancer vaccines, further strengthens the growing body of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of SPL7013 against several important STIs.”
In the US, 6.2 million people are newly infected with HPV each year. HPV infection is a factor in the development of virtually all cases of cervical cancer.
VivaGel® is currently under clinical development as a vaginal microbicide for the prevention of transmission of HIV and genital herpes (HSV-2).
About Starpharma
Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX:SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY) is a world leader in the development of dendrimer nanotechnology for pharmaceutical, life-science and other applications. SPL has two operating companies, Starpharma Pty Ltd in Melbourne, Australia and DNT, Inc in the USA. Products based on SPL’s dendrimer technology are already on the market in the form of diagnostic elements and laboratory reagents through licence arrangements with partners including Siemens and Merck KgA.
The Company’s lead pharmaceutical development product is VivaGel® (SPL7013 Gel), a vaginal microbicide designed to prevent the transmission of STIs, including HIV and genital herpes. In September 2008 Starpharma signed a full licence agreement with SSL International plc (LSE:SSL) to develop a VivaGel® coated condom. SSL manufactures and sells Durex® condoms, the market-leading condom brand worldwide. Starpharma’s receipts under the agreement are estimated to exceed A$100m comprising royalties on SSL sales, further milestone payments, and development support.
In the wider pharmaceutical field Starpharma has specific programs in the areas of Drug Delivery and Drug Optimisation technologies (using dendrimers to control where and when drugs go when introduced to the body) and Targeted Diagnostics (using dendrimers as a scaffold to which both location-signalling and targeting groups are added to allow location of specific cell type, such as cancer cells). More broadly the company is exploring dendrimer opportunities in materials science applications including water remediation.
