Viragen reports U.S. Army to test Multiferon against bio-warfare viruses in primates

New York, May 31 - Viragen, Inc. said the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases has agreed to start studies in primate models to further examine the potential of Multiferon (multi-subtype, natural human alpha interferon) against bio-warfare viruses.

The research will look at whether the drug can be used against certain "Category A" pathogens, a class of highly virulent viral threats.

"It is critical we identify products that can provide rapid medical defenses for a variety of potentially catastrophic viral threats, including viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg and Ebola, both of which result in enormously high mortality rates," said Lisa E. Hensley, research team leader at the Army institute, in a news release.

"Our initial in vitro evaluation studies showed that Multiferon successfully demonstrated a protective effect on healthy cells subjected to these deadly infectious pathogens."

The new studies will "expand on the preliminary results by analyzing the effect of the drug in in vivo models that are very similar to human settings, making them a good indicator of the drug's broad-acting anti-viral properties in human use."

Viragen is a Plantation, Fla., biotechnology company.

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