Freedom New Zealand

Facial acne has helped a South Auckland company to develop a versatile drug it hopes will treat numerous serious illnesses, from influenza to radiation sickness.

Mangere biotech firm Virionyx makes the experimental drug from the shell of the pimple-causing bug "propionibacterium acnes". The drug, MIS 416, comprises the inert shell of the bacterium and a small amount of its inactivated DNA.

Although it is yet to be tried in humans, it has shown promise in animal trials.

In a Californian study, half the mice injected with the drug 24 hours after a lethal dose of radiation survived.

In another US trial, it delayed the onset of influenza symptoms and reduced their severity.

It was originally used as the "adjuvant" in an experimental vaccine against anthrax which provided 100 per cent protection in an animal trial. But it was noticed that 33 per cent protection was achieved in the control group, which got only the adjuvant.

An adjuvant in a vaccine amplifies the immune system's response.

Virionyx chief executive Simon Wilkinson said that although the exact mechanism of MIS 416's action was not known, it was clearly activating the innate immune system, the first line of defence against harmful invaders.

He said plans were under way to start a phase 1 human safety trialin Christchurch by next February.

"If that's successful we would like to move quickly to phase 2a [safety and efficacy] trial in hepatitis C to treat patients once a fortnight and over a three- to six-month period to see if we have a more tolerable, more effective alternative treatment to the existing interferon alpha."

If the trials went well, it could take five years before the drug was licensed for use, Mr Wilkinson said.

Virionyx hopes to tap the lucrative anti-flu market, now dominated by drugs such as Tamiflu. If successful against the flu, MIS 416 could provide an important first-line defence for health and emergency workers during a pandemic while vaccines are made.

Mr Wilkinson said the US defence establishment was keen for the development of drugs to treat radiation sickness, because of the perceived risk of a terrorist attack using a low-tech "dirty bomb" containing radioactive waste such as that from nuclear reactors.

He said MIS 416 also held promise as a treatment to reduce the damage caused by anti-cancer radiation therapy in non-cancerous cells.

Auckland University immunologist Professor John Fraser said the concept of adjuvants stimulating an innate immune response was well established, but this was the first time he had heard of one having such wide-ranging effects.

He said it needed to be backed up by hard evidence - until then "I would call it a curiosity"