EXTON, Pa., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ViroPharma Incorporated announced today that the company will provide a live audio webcast of its ‘Teach-in’ educational event for investors on cytomegalovirus (CMV), on Wednesday, October 25, 2006. Lectures will be provided by Dr. Mark Pescovitz, transplant specialist from the University of Indiana School of Medicine and renowned CMV expert, Dr. Clyde Crumpacker, of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The ‘Teach-in,’ entitled ‘Cytomegalovirus in the Transplant Setting and Beyond: Disease Today, Prevention Tomorrow,’ will be held at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time on October 25, 2006. During the event, the lecturers will provide an overview of transplant medicine and CMV including topics such as: an introduction to transplant medicine (stem cell and solid organ transplants); challenges associated with transplant patient support; CMV and its ramifications for transplant patients; difficulties in treating and controlling CMV infection and disease; and other populations at risk of CMV disease. Presenters will provide a first-hand clinical perspective on the unmet medical need for more effective and safer treatments in the transplant population.
In addition, ViroPharma representatives will provide an update on the clinical progress and developmental plan for maribavir, which recently entered into a Phase 3 program designed to assess the compound’s utility to prevent CMV disease in stem-cell transplant patients, and provide elements of the potential market opportunity for maribavir.
“We are thrilled to enlist the participation of these leading key opinion leaders in the field of transplant medicine and infectious disease in our investor educational symposium on CMV and maribavir,” commented Colin Broom, M.D., ViroPharma’s chief scientific officer. “This will mark the beginning of a broad educational effort on our part designed to explain not only the great medical need among transplant patients and other immunosuppressed patients at risk of significant CMV disease, but also the potential significance of maribavir to these patients.”
A live audio webcast of the meeting may be accessed via the investor relations section of the ViroPharma corporate website, http://www.viropharma.com. Windows Media or Real Player will be needed to access the live webcast and archive of the audio presentation. The archive of the meeting will be available through November 10, 2006.
About Maribavir
Maribavir is a potent and selective, orally bioavailable antiviral drug with a unique mechanism of action against cytomegalovirus and a favorable early clinical efficacy and safety profile. It is a potent member of a new class of drugs called benzimidazole ribosides. Unlike currently available anti-CMV agents that inhibit CMV DNA polymerase, maribavir inhibits viral DNA assembly and inhibits egress of viral capsids from the nucleus of infected cells. Maribavir is active in vitro against strains of CMV that are resistant to commonly used anti-CMV drugs.
About Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
CMV is a member of the herpes virus group, which includes the viruses that causes chicken pox, mononucleosis, herpes labialis (cold sores), and herpes genitalis (genital herpes). CMV can cause serious complications in persons with weakened immune systems. Like other herpes viruses, CMV has the ability to remain dormant in the body for long periods of time. Human CMV infection rates average between 50% and 85% of adults in the U.S. by 40 years of age. In most individuals with intact immune systems, CMV infection causes little to no apparent illness, or mild symptoms such as enlarged lymph nodes, low fever, and fatigue that may or may not be noticed. However, in immunocompromised individuals, CMV can lead to serious disease or death.
About ViroPharma Incorporated
ViroPharma Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of products that address serious diseases treated by physician specialists and in hospital settings. ViroPharma commercializes Vancocin(R), approved for oral administration for treatment of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis caused by Clostridium difficile and enterocolitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin- resistant strains (for prescribing information, please download the package insert at http://www.viropharma.com/docs/pulvules_pi.pdf). ViroPharma currently focuses its drug development activities in viral diseases including cytomegalovirus (CMV) and hepatitis C (HCV). For more information on ViroPharma, visit the company’s website at http://www.viropharma.com.
ViroPharma Incorporated
CONTACT: William C. Roberts, Director, Corporate Communications,+1-610-321-6288, or Robert A. Doody, Manager, Corporate Communications,+1-610-321-6290, both of ViroPharma Incorporated
Web site: http://www.viropharma.com/
