- Theralase Technologies (TSXV:TLT), a pharmaceutical stock focused treating a diversity of unmet needs, demonstrated that its flagship Ruvidar is more effective against the herpes virus than standard of care treatments
- Contingent on funding, a clinical study will take place in 2025
- Theralase is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing light, radiation, sound and/or drug-activated small molecule compounds, associated drug formulations and the systems that activate them to destroy various cancers, bacteria and viruses
- Theralase stock has added 11.76 per cent year-over-year and 18.75 per cent since 2020
Theralase Technologies (TSXV:TLT), a pharmaceutical stock focused treating a diversity of unmet needs, demonstrated that its flagship Ruvidar is more effective against the herpes virus than standard of care Acyclovir (1 per cent) and Abreva.
The results, achieved in Balb/C mice in a preclinical setting, support the safety and efficacy of topically applied Ruvidar for accelerated healing of type 1 herpes, most commonly experienced as cold sores.
Almost 4.5 billion people carry type 1 or the sexually transmitted type 2 variants of the uncurable infection, translating into a US$2.8 billion treatment market expected to reach US$4.7 billion by 2033.
Leadership insights
“My next set of experiments will be to increase the number of daily applications of Abreva, Acyclovir and Ruvidar (from once daily to 5 times daily) and increase the dosage of Acyclovir and Ruvidar (1 to 5 per cent) to see how this affects the healing time of HSV-1 lesions,” Pavel Kaspler, the research scientist who conducted the preclinical study, said in a statement. “It is my hope that my preclinical research leads to the development of a clinical treatment to aid the multitude of individuals suffering from cold sores.”
“Based on the chemical properties of Ruvidar, I am not surprised that it has had such a dramatic effect on the inactivation of HSV-1 lesions in this animal model,” commented Arkady Mandel, Theralase’s chief scientific officer. “It is well established in the literature that the HSV-1 virus’ glycoproteins (glycans – gB and gC) are negatively charged, as are the Heparan Sulphate receptors on a cell’s surface (preferred binding site of the virus on a cell). This provides a novel mechanism (based on controlled electrostatic repulsion) that addresses how viruses balance between optimized viral attachment to target cells and efficient egress of progeny virus. On the other hand, Ruvidar is positively charged. This allows Ruvidar the unique ability to be able to bind to and block the glycoproteins on HSV-1, preventing binding to host cells, as well as on the HS cell surface receptors preventing the efficient egress of progeny virus. This leads to an inability of the virus to replicate, allowing accelerated healing of cold sore lesions.”
“As always, I am in awe of the ability of Ruvidar to effectively destroy cancer cells, as well as efficiently inactivate bacteria and viruses,” added Roger DuMoulin-White, Theralase’s president and chief executive officer. “Based on the success of this latest preclinical research, Theralase, pending funding in 2025, will commence formulation of Ruvidar into topical form, complete GLP toxicology and commence a phase I/II adaptive clinical study to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Ruvidar in the accelerated healing of cold sore lesions in humans.”
About Theralase Technologies
Theralase is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing light, radiation, sound and/or drug-activated small molecule compounds, associated drug formulations and the systems that activate them to destroy various cancers, bacteria and viruses.
Theralase stock (TSXV:TLT) last traded at C$0.19 per share. The stock has added 11.76 per cent year-over-year and 18.75 per cent since 2020.
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