Nanotechnology-Based Targeted Anti-Viral Therapeutics

A typical nanoviricides drug is designed like a chemical "missile." It has a number of recognition "ligands" on its surface, that are specific to a single type of virus, say HIV. They are like the "GPS on a guided missile." The ligands are designed to identify the viral intruder and attach to specific "landing sites" on the surface of the virus particle.

The nanoviricides drug, after landing, spreads itself all over the virus particle, and thus completely neutralizes and disables the virus particle from binding to its target, a human cell.

This is the magic of the flexible TheraCour nanomaterials. Hard sphere nanomaterials such as dendritic materials, nanogold shells, silica, gold or titanium nanospheres, polymeric particles, etc., cannot do this.

Completely neutralizing and disabling the virus particle is more than the best of today's drugs do. FluCide-I, our first generation drug, is designed to do just that.

Ligand: A ligand in this sense is a molecular fragment that can specifically bind to the virus coat. The ligand determines the nanoviricide's specificity and range. A ligand can be a small molecule, a peptide, an aptamer, or an antibody-derived fragment, among other possibilities.