NORWAY, Feb. 7, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Gert Munthe has accepted the position as the New Chairman of the Board in A-VIRAL, effective from the shareholders meeting February 26, 2001.
Gert Munthe has an MBA in business administration from the Columbia University, New York. He has 4 years of experience from McKinsey and leading positions in Netcom, the pharmaceutical company Nycomed and the pharmaceutical company Alpharma. Gert Munthe played a key role in building up the tele Company Netcom.
Einar Stokke, the CEO of A-VIRAL emphasizes: "Gert Munthe brings valuable competence to our board. His decision is based on a broad evaluation of A-VIRAL. I am inspired by his interest. The company is now moving into a new phase with focus on negotiations with larger pharmaceutical companies, development of our organization and going public. Gert Munthe will play a key role in this efforts, in particular when we start up initial activities in the USA."
A-VIRAL is a research based biotech company. A-VIRAL develops effective therapeutic products in the area of life threatening diseases. The main focus is on HIV/AIDS, but the patent applications also include other viral diseases. A-VIRAL wants to develop a pipeline of products. A-VIRAL wants to be a leading international initiative recognized in the community of life threatening diseases. The A-VIRAL strategy is to develop new drugs and to sell licenses to major pharmaceutical companies. The income is based on sales of licenses and royalties.
This is A-VIRAL
A-VIRAL is a research based biotech company. A-VIRAL develops effective therapeutic products in the area of life threatening diseases. The main focus is on HIV/AIDS, but the patent applications also include other viral diseases which will be explored later. A-VIRAL wants to develop a pipeline of products. A-VIRAL wants to be a leading international initiative recognized in the community of life threatening diseases. The A-VIRAL strategy is to develop new drugs and to sell licenses to major pharmaceutical companies. The income is based on sales of licenses and royalties.
AV-1101 is a new drug for therapeutic treatment of HIV/AIDS. It took the A-VIRAL research team 2 years to develop AV-1101. AV-1101 stops the replication of the HIV virus in cell cultures. The researchers also believe that the drug has a new effect which re-establishes the balance in the immune defense. The drug seems to have few side effects, is simple to use (2-4 pills/day) and has a low production cost compared to the HIV/AIDS drugs on the market today. AV-1101 has the potential to be an important alternative for countries with high prevalence of AIDS.
The health authorities in the Philippines are interested in AV-1101. Clinical trials on humans will start soon after more than one year of preparations. The clinical trials is a collaboration between A-VIRAL, the University hospital in Manila (San Lazaro Hospital) and St. Lukes Medical Center. San Lazaro Hospital is the center for treatment and research on HIV/AIDS in the Philippines.
The health authorities in the Philippines are interested to test out the AV-1101 as soon as possible in order to hopefully start treatment using AV-1101 in a broader scale next year. The health authorities have approved to follow an approach to test out AV-1101 building on procedures developed by the FDA in the USA. The US procedure is called "fast track" and is used to bring new promising drugs to fight life-threatening diseases to the market faster than the normal procedure.
A-VIRAL is a future oriented organization utilizing the potential internet provides to strengthen the communication. A-VIRAL collaborates with high quality organizations satisfying international quality standards.
Board: Knut Johannson (Chairman), Petter Faye-Lund, Eivind Urbye, Tarjei Stensaasen CEO: Einar Stokke