BARDA, Supermodels, and Macaques

 

There are so many things that have happened in the past 4 (!) months since the last update. First, while the infection rates have dramatically decreased in all 3 major affected countries and media coverage has all but disappeared, there are still ~100 new cases every week. To put that into perspective, there were less than 100 cases TOTAL in the very first outbreak in Zaire that scared the crap out of everyone in 1976. The total number of infected individuals is now approaching 24,000 (!!!) with nearly 10,000 deaths. We remain fully committed to the cause.

BARDA. Christmas came early for #projectEBOLA as we were invited to pitch our program to BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) in Washington, DC on December 15. BARDA is a US government agency that funds the development of medical countermeasures for chemical, radiological, and nuclear agents as well as for emerging infectious diseases and pandemics. Our presentation was very well received. They particularly like the fact OS2966 is a host-directed therapy (potentially less drug resistance) and could be a platform for treating multiple serious viruses beyond Ebola and the filoviruses. We hope to submit our initial application for funding this spring (they tend to require in vivo data, although there was a very puzzling exception recently that was so mind-boggling we'll have to discuss at a later time).

Supermodels. Back in November I was doodling around with the OncoSynergy logo to see if I could rearrange the dots making up the brain image into an Ebola virion. I succeeded and, VOILA, the new #projectEBOLA logo graced the rear of our employee's Christmas 2014 hoodies. My wife and I wore these on the plane to the BARDA meeting and found out that you get a lot of unwanted attention and horrified looks in public when your sweatshirt says the word "Ebola" on it. It was pretty amusing. One cool thing that happened recently is that I sent a hoodie to our friend, Elisa Sednaoui (actress, supermodel, director, philanthropist, Karl Lagerfeld muse, and god daughter to Christian Louboutin). She sent us the above pic from her London abode of her rocking it... #projectEBOLA going global! We like it so much we will be offering #projectEBOLA t-shirts for sale soon...

Macaques. We are continuing to learn a lot about Ebola virus disease (EVD) pathophysiology, the basic science of Ebola infection, and how OS2966 may serve as a powerful new therapeutic for EVD. One thing we've come to realize recently is that OS2966 is predicted to have at least 3 major mechanisms of action (MOAs) against the pathophysiology of EVD. We've already verified the first MOA in in vitro laboratory models of Ebola infection (see last lab note). Our studies continue with our collaborators for both in vitro and in vivo investigations.

Yes, I am very gratified to announce that as of last week we received IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) approval for our first efficacy study in the gold-standard Ebola animal model in the rhesus macaque! Unfortunately, I am unable to provide specifics due to our agreement, but needless to say we are collaborating with a world-famous and world-class Ebola scientist and team. They will be using the "Guinea strain" of Ebola Zaire in our experiments which is the very strain from the current outbreak!

In closing, we appreciate the continued interest and support for our ever-expanding Ebola program. Please do stay tuned!

Best,

wSc