Sheep Help NovaBay Target Sinusitis

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Inc. is counting on sheep sinuses to shepherd one of its experimental drugs into flocks of patients and investors.

NVC-422 is one of the Emeryville drug developer's (AMEX: NBY) so-called Aganocide compounds, designed to kill bacteria quickly and effectively but without the bacteria building up resistance over time. The compound is being studied in everything from the skin infection impetigo to urinary catheter blockage to eye care, though Novartis™ Alcon eye care unit returned rights to the drug this summer.

But recent findings from an Australian study could cause NovaBay to put more attention on sinusitis, said NovaBay CEO Ron Najafi. In collaboration with NovaBay, researcher P.J. Wormald at the University of Adelaide infected sheep with Staphyloccus aureus and allowed a biofilm to develop over seven days. Wormalds lab then treated the sheep with two concentrations of NVC-422 and later removed the sheeps frontal lobe sinuses.

They found that sheep treated with the higher concentration (0.5 percent) of NVC-422 had less biofilm biomass the bacteria and biofilm slime that protects bacteria from attacks by the body and antibiotics not just in the number of bacteria. Najafi said the findings were “very significant when compared to results of sheep treated with the lower concentration as well as those treated with saline or a control group.

The findings were submitted recently at the American Rhinologic Society annual scientific meeting in San Francisco.

Sheep are an important model for sinusitis, said Bill Costerton, a member of NovaBay's scientific advisory board, because the animal's sinuses are similar to those of humans. The neat thing is we used to look at biokill by culture technique, Costerton said, but with this, we use direct observation.

About 30 million people in the United States are diagnosed with acute or chronic sinusitis, so NovaBay and Najafi are seeing big potential numbers. Instead of simply irrigating the sinuses with a saline solution, NVC-422 could be used as an irrigant and an antibacterial for sinusitis patients who have undergone surgery.

If you actually kill the bacteria, you'd be way ahead of the game, Costerton said.

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Source: San Fransisco Business Times