HERPES VIRUSES

Herpes – Infectious Disease - The viruses and market

There are at least eight infectious disease viruses in the Herpes family that cause infection in humans. Arrow's research and development in this area is focused on three such infectious disease viruses - Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV). HSV types 1 & 2 cause oral herpes (cold sores or fever blisters) and genital herpes (genital sores). Genital herpes infection is now an epidemic and spreading at an estimated rate of a half million people per year with some statistics indicating that as many as 1 in 6 American adults have genital herpes. Infectious disease VZV causes chicken pox, with recurrent infection leading to shingles. In the elderly the infectious disease VZV may cause painful nerve damage. CMV is a common virus that infects people of all ages, with between 50% and 80% of adults in the US infected with CMV by the age of 40. It is also the most common congenital (present at birth) infection in the US. Most infections are “silent,” meaning most people who are infected with CMV have no signs or symptoms of the infectious disease. However, CMV can cause disease in newborn babies and is a major cause of congenital hearing deficits. The virus also causes severe disease in people with a weakened immune system.

One of the most successful antiviral drugs, acyclovir, treats infections caused by both herpes simplex virus and varicella zoster virus (chicken-pox and shingles). Despite their relatively poor potency against the virus, sales of acyclovir and similar products (‘Valtrex' and ‘Famvir') exceed $1 billion p.a.

Arrow's Herpes programme

Arrow's programme to develop novel potent antiviral drugs to treat Herpes virus infection is at the lead optimisation phase.

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