PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 7, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. William Mitchell, Ph.D., a Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University who also serves as a Director with Hemispherx Biopharma (NYSE:HEB), will chair three sessions on Neurological Infections Associated with Virus, Agriculture and Plant Virology, and Recent Advances in Drug Discovery during the 4th World Congress on Virology in San Antonio, Texas on October 8. In addition, he will deliver a presentation titled, "The Unique Role of TLR3 Agonists and Its Induced Products of Innate Immunity as Pharmaceutical Agents Efficacious Against Highly Lethal Emerging Viruses." Joining Dr. Mitchell as co-chair of the sessions will be Baoming Jiang, D.V.M., Ph.D., a Team Leader and Research Microbiologist with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
Dr. Mitchell earned a M.D. from Vanderbilt and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, where he served as House Officer in Internal Medicine, followed by a Fellowship at its School of Medicine. He has published more than 200 papers, reviews and abstracts that relate to viruses, anti-viral drugs, immune responses to HIV infection, and other biomedical topics. Dr. Mitchell has worked for and with many professional societies including the American Society of Investigative Pathology, the International Society for Antiviral Research, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Society of Microbiology. A member of the American Medical Association, he has served on numerous government review committees, among them the National Institutes of Health, AIDS and Related Research Review Group and the CDC. Dr. Mitchell has been a Director with Hemispherx since July 1998.
About Hemispherx Biopharma
Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an advanced specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the manufacture and clinical development of new drug entities for treatment of seriously debilitating disorders. Hemispherx's flagship products include Alferon N Injection® and the experimental therapeutics Ampligen® and Alferon® LDO. Ampligen® is an experimental RNA nucleic acid being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Hemispherx's platform technology includes components for potential treatment of various severely debilitating and life threatening diseases. Because both Ampligen® and Alferon® LDO are experimental in nature, they are not designated safe and effective by a regulatory authority for general use and are legally available only through clinical trials. Hemispherx has patents comprising its core intellectual property estate and a fully commercialized product (Alferon N Injection®), approved for sale in the U.S. and Argentina. The Company's Alferon® N approval in Argentina includes the use of Alferon N Injection® (under the brand name "Naturaferon") for use in any patients who fail, or become intolerant to recombinant interferon, including patients with chronic active hepatitis C infection. The Company wholly owns and exclusively operates a GMP certified manufacturing facility in the United States for commercial products. For more information please visit www.hemispherx.net
About Alferon® N
Alferon® N is the only natural source, multi-species alpha interferon currently approved for sale in the U.S. Alferon® N is approved in the U.S. only for the treatment of refractory or recurring external genital warts caused by human papilloma virus in patients 18 years of age or older. Clinical trial data will be necessary to establish the human efficacy of Alferon® N or Alferon® LDO for Ebola viruses.
About Ampligen®
Ampligen®, an experimental therapeutic, is a new class of specifically-configured ribonucleic acid (RNA) compounds targeted as potential treatment of diseases with immunologic defects and/or viral causation. Ebola virus specifically inhibits the RNA, which would otherwise cause a robust antiviral response to be mounted: Ampligen may be able to overcome this deficiency in host response. Clinical trial data will be necessary to establish the human efficacy of Ampligen® for Ebola viruses.
Disclosure Notice
Information contained in this news release, other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve risk of competition, changing market conditions, changes in laws and regulations affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The final results of these efforts and/or any other activities could vary materially from Hemispherx's expectations. In vitro experiments are not necessarily predictive of clinical outcome and no representations are made that any products described in this release will be ultimately determined safe and effective in the prevention and/or treatment of the Ebola virus. Moreover, it will take time, testing and substantial funds to obtain approval of any such product and there are no assurances that a commercial approval for treatment of the Ebola virus can be obtained.
Forward-Looking Statements
To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, all such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "potential," "potentially," "possible," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Hemispherx that any of its plans will be achieved. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees of future performance, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Hemispherx's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. Examples of such risks and uncertainties include those set forth in the Disclosure Notice, above, as well as the risks described in Hemispherx's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and Hemispherx undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise revise or update this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.