SINGAPORE, IMMUNEREGEN TO TEST DRUG TO TREAT MELIOIDOSIS

Singapore's Defense Medical & Environmental Research Institute and ImmuneRegen BioSciences, a U.S. firm, have announced plans to launch a study on acute melioidosis.

Melioidosis, also called Whitmore's disease, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, which is endemic in Southeast Asia, with the greatest concentration of cases reported in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and northern Australia. The bacteria can be transmitted from animals to humans as well as from person to person.

Mortality rates for melioidosis are as high as high as 90 percent, particularly when the bacteria are aerosolized. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers it a potential agent for biological warfare and biological terrorism.

ImmuneRegen's compound, Viprovex, is a synthetic Sar9, Met (O2)11-Substance P peptide, an analog of the naturally occurring human neuropeptide that can be found throughout the body, including in the airways.