A Medical Device Daily

Aethlon Medical (San Diego) reported that it will initiate studies to test the in vitro effectiveness of the Aethlon Hemopurifier to capture West Nile virus (WNV), an infectious disease presently untreatable with antiviral drug and vaccine therapy.

The company said that the studies are designed to evaluate the potential of the Hemopurifier to treat WNV, and "to further demonstrate the broad-spectrum effectiveness of the Hemopurifier to capture viral pathogens."

Therapies able to demonstrate broad-spectrum effectiveness against multiple pathogens have recently been mandated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Aethlon said, to be the focal point of programs that support the commercialization of candidate countermeasures against bioterror and pandemic threats.

The WNV studies will be conducted at the Battelle Biomedical Research Center (Columbus, Ohio), an organization that previously collaborated with Aethlon on pre-clinical testing of the Hemopurifier against the highly fatal H5N1 Avian Flu Virus (bird flu).

In those studies, the Hemopurifier proved effective in removing up to 99.4% of infectious H5N1 from cell culture fluids during a six-hour testing periods, Aethlon said.

WNV first appeared in the Western hemisphere in 1999, and is believed to have entered via an infected bird or mosquito, the primary vector for human infection. Incidence of infection within the U.S. has since increased with about 3,600 cases reported in 2007, 33% of these the more severe neuro-invasive forms, and these resulting in 121 fatalities.

WNV-related healthcare costs in the U.S. exceeded $200 million in the 2002 alone.

Battelle is an independent R&D organization.